Haunted Shadows
by SilverPedals1402
Summary: -set before all the episodes- After the plane crash, the Stark's go into a coma, one of them wakes up and one of them disappears. Almost two years later, one of them is declared dead and a new hero shows up. A hero who comes with the strong suspicion that he might know more than he lets on about a certain Stark and the plane crash might have just been the beginning of it all.
1. Prologue

**Okay so you can kick, hit, yell, scold, or do what you'd like to me for making another story. Honestly i wouldn't blame you. But Armored Memories is ending within the next few days, and baby Genius is awfully close to ending, and observations is just too easy to upload, and Suspects vs. Victims was meant to help with writers block. Oh and Fighting til the end just doesnt have an official ending at the moment... And i thought maybe i'll post part of the first chapter of my story i've been working on all summer and even longer than that. April maybe? And i've already got a few chapters done and each of them have almost 20 pages in open office. So... i thought who cares!? its my life i might be complicating! Might as well post it.  
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**Just Bare with me here. IMPORTANT! I need to go through a few things about this. This story is a big 'what if'. there is NO GENE! There might be Whitney, but i'm not sure if i did put her in already or not. BUT the plane crash still happened. Howard, yes, did NOT get kidnapped. Of course he didn't. There's no Gene! But there is not a lot of Tony. Well basically the whole story is based on him, but he doesn't say much. Actually i think so far 'Tony' has said only a few things...sorry 'bout that. But don't worry, it will get better...i hope. Yeah and later on, some themes get to be somewhat like the movie, Iron man. Hopefully some of you will see why when i say that. well when we get there. if we do. so yeah, no Gene, Howard lives and didn't get kidnapped, Not much of Tony, references to the movie, alternate Universe pretty much. Ooh i almost forgot, the armor he built, is the Mark I, but i felt the need to put in a feat only seen in the Mark II, he could shield more than one person and at a distance, just to be clear, cuz i was worried someone would get mad and point out that the Mark I one can only shield itself.  
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**So i made my point. And i'd like to point out, that yes this is very descriptive. Well it is for me. So for those who read my other stories, i'm NOT the most descriptive person alive. But this story, i'm actually trying as hard as i can to keep descriptive. Though i'm pretty sure, i lost my descriptiveness at some point in this story, but still i try to explain things more. Oh and the title, I didn't know what to call it, but i remembered writing something in here about a haunted shadow or something, i don't know if i kept it there or where it is if it is still there, but you get the point, or hopefully you will later on.  
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**Disclaimer: No no i do not own iron man armored adventures, and if you think i do then you lost your mind. It belongs to marvel or nicktoons or somewhere along those lines.  
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The last thing Tony remembered was going to the back of the plane for some reason he couldn't remember. He remembered that he was supposed to be showing his father his new invention, but now how could he when the plane they had been flying in had just burst into flames, or just exploded into what seemed like a million pieces. Tony's mind only stuck to the flames and pain as he freely fell from the sky to a luckily empty field. He could feel it as tiny unidentifiable objects shredded into his chest. He felt as the wind wrapped around his body as it failed to catch him as he fell.

It took Tony a few moments to actually process that he had landed and that he was no longer falling through nothingness. He groaned and his eyes opened. Part of him wished he hadn't opened his eyes. Smoke, flames, and a nightmare was all he saw. All that was there was pure horror waiting to be seen. He was laying on a large metal scrap, that was curled from being partly melted. His Leg had a large piece of metal sticking out of his upper left leg and he had several cuts in other places. His shirt was in tatters and his left pant leg was half missing. His face was dark from the ashes around him.

Ignoring the searing pain in his chest when he flexed, he sat up and looked around with hopes to see his father. The only thing he saw other than smoke and flames, was something blue. That something glitched and disappeared. The blue stuff also happened to be around Tony. But that also glitched and disappeared. He blinked with something coming back to his mind. His inventions shields did the same thing. He looked at his had and saw that it was indeed his invention. The same invention he was about to show his father. He also remembered the emergency feature that allowed it to create not only a second shield but a detached one that would go around somebody from a distance.

He hoped that his dad survived cause Tony didn't think that he himself would. Honestly he was getting dazed and weak. His vision getting disoriented and fuzzy, his mind could hardly think, and not to mention he was losing a lot of blood. He knew that being in the back of the plane had made things worse for him and made it all the more painful. But somehow the thought of his dad dying and himself living scared him more than death itself. He feared death, yes, but the fact that he was at risk of losing his dad scared him more. He didn't want to lose his father. He had already lost his mother and he didn't need to become an orphan. Though really he wouldn't cause he knew exactly where he would go. Rhodey.

He would go directly to Rhodey even if the government said otherwise.

Blinking spots out of his eyes, he tried his best to see beyond the smoke and fire. Beyond what was in front of him. But his eyes failed him. He frowned as he realized his best shot at finding his father and getting out of there was if he got to his invention. His armor. But how was he to get to it if he could hardly move and it didn't help that he didn't even know where it was in the first place. He scanned the area around him. The flames were dying down, but more smoke was rising. He twisted painfully around and winced as it pulled at both his chest and leg. Then he saw it. The box it was held in. He was lucky that it was in the back of the plane. Otherwise he wouldn't have been able to quickly grab the hand glove as it was falling. He hadn't gotten the rest. If he had, he wouldn't be like this and his father would have been safe and with him.

He groaned in pain as he pulled his arms back and pressed them against the ledge of the metal chunk he'd been laying on. He pushed and his entire body moved backwards towards the large box that contained his armor. He yelped loudly as the metal piece in his leg twisted and moved as he moved. He pressed both his hands against his leg and groaned loudly. He feared that if he had tried to pull it out, he'd just make things worse, but now it seemed that he had no choice. So placing both of his hands carefully on both sides of the metal he took a deep breath a pulled. He yelled in pain as it slowly slid out of his leg with one last pull it yanked out and clattered onto the floor that was looming below him.

He ripped off a piece of cloth from his shirt and grimaced as he placed the cloth onto the wound to stop the bleeding. In a matter of seconds, the cloth was bled through and he was already on a second cloth. Giving up on the cloth thing he just tied a long piece to the leg tightly and pushed himself painfully off the piece of metal. He landed with a thump and a groan. He was now on his stomach, army crawling to the largely made bin that held his invention that was too save him and his father.

It took a while, but soon enough after several agonizing movements that he thought that should have killed him, he bumped into the bin. The same bin that held his armor. He wanted to smile as he realized that he made it. He was saved...for the moment he was. He still had to turn it on, find his dad, and he was starting to suspect that he wasn't going to stay conscious for all that long, so he had to put it on auto pilot, which wasn't to hard. The hard part was probably the part where he has to put it on and find his dad. Which to him at the moment, in his current condition, he didn't know how long that would take. The longer it was the closer he would get to passing out.

He shifted and used his hands and pulled himself to his knees. He pressed the button to open the bin that the armor was in. Well the rest of the armor that is. There it was, just laying there missing an arm, looking as if it didn't just crash land onto the earth from a plane that just exploded. Sighing not only in relief, but in pain, he reached in and pulled the helmet on. He blinked as he turned on the computer systems and the first thing he told it to do, was, "O-open up armor. Pr-prepare for use."

The armor did as told and opened up, ready to be worn. Ready to be used. He did his best to pull out each piece and placing them in the proper places. It was hard saying his chest was in complete pain. It felt as if it had gotten barbed wire or sharp nails dragged slowly and agonizingly across his chest. Not that he would have known what that felt like, but it was close to what he was imagining it would feel like. It didn't help that his leg was in a ton of pain too. The large and deep gash in it was incredibly painful. More than he thought possible. At least it didn't hurt as much as his chest did.

[Warning. Extensive damage to user's heart.] The female robotic voice of the armor that he installed informed him.

He didn't bother to reply. He only scanned the screen to see what the report of the armor was telling him that he didn't know. The only thing other than the heart issue that he was told that he didn't know about, was that there was shrapnel lodged in his chest that by the minute was getting ready to press closer to his heart. Hence the extensive damage to his heart. He swallowed in worry that he wasn't going to last long enough for him to get to his father. He worried that he was going to pass out and by the time he woke up, his father could have already bled out. It would make sense that his father got some kind of huge injury that would soon enough kill him if he didn't get medical attention.

It wouldn't surprise him if he was already dead. That was a lie. It would. It was his father for crying out loud. Even though he knew it was a possibility, it would definitely shock him if he found his father dead.

Without another thought, he turned on what he called boot jets, and he went flying into the air. Weakly he started another command for the armor to take. "C-computer, scan the area for dad."

He flew down closer to make it easier for the armor to complete its scan. He himself also started to look around for any signs of his father. He was looking in the general area that the blue 'shield' was spotted that wasn't his own shield. But that was long gone. It wore out and left his father sitting or laying down alone. Alone to his death or soon to be found and helped. It took a few minutes until the armor spoke up again in its mono-toned voice.

[Scans indicate that Howard Stark is under metal by the door over there.]

The armor focused on the door and Tony saw that his father was indeed under that metal piece. Just barely though. "I-is he...a-alive..?"

He was getting weaker and weaker and it was getting harder to breath and speak. It took him a lot of will and effort to bring up even a sentence."

[Scan's conclude that Howard Stark is alive, but his vitals are low and unstable.]

He sighed in major relief yet stress. His father was alive, but just barely. So he wasted no time flying down to his dad and cut off the boot jets. He walked up to the metal piece that laid on his father and used all the strange that he could muster up to lift it off his father and in the other direction. He was breathing deeply and heavily as his vision fuzzed up and started to show signs of losing consciousness. In panic he picked up his dad told his armor to lock hold on him in case he did pass out.

Though the last conscious command he made was not that. Nor was it about auto piloting, which he already pushed out. The first command had already required him of a pass code, which he gave out weakly and roughly. Though his last request was odd. It was,

"Take me...take me to Rhodey."

That was his last request. The last request before everything was gone and disappeared, was to take him and his father to Rhodey. Not to a hospital for he knew that that was what his best friend would do. Though it really was a shame that he hadn't even Told Gene about the armor. It would've been nice to know that Rhodey known what he was up to. Now he had finally passed out from blood loss and he didn't even take the time to see what injuries his father acquired.

His request though, sadly, didn't make it clearly to the armor. It was inconclusive.

[Request denied. Voice not recognized. Auto pilot automatically set to go to the nearest hospital.]

Luckily for Tony, the armor was programmed to not let his identity get out. It was smart enough to know that it was dangerous. So when it flew off into the distance, it was prepared to land somewhere dark and uninhabited, but near a hospital and let Tony out after making a call for an ambulance.

It wasn't long til the ambulance showed up. Once they saw the teen and his father with nothing but a black backpack, they rushed forward unloading the two gurneys and loaded the two onto them. They put on oxygen masks and rolled them into separate ambulances. They knew exactly who they were. They were Howard and Tony Stark. But who to contact was the problem. They didn't know the number of the company, they didn't know who was their close friends. So they couldn't call anyone. They weren't about to go hunting for whoever they needed to call. At least until one of them wakes up. Then they will ask.

(Time break)

The freshly out of surgery teen and adult were in opposite rooms, but in the same hall. Across the hall directly in fact. It wasn't that far. The doctors that had picked them up reasoned with the room director that they should be near each other for multiple reasons. They were father and son for one. They just got seriously hurt and they deserve to at least be near each other. Finally for the fact that if one of them decides to be superman or whatever and leave their room in search for the other, they wouldn't be able to get too far away.

The status of each one was different almost entirely. Howard was least beat up and hurt. He had cuts and tons of burns. His son was a different matter in that. He had something worse. He didn't only have cuts and burns. Not even the pretty deep cut on his leg was bad. It was his chest that had them worried. To the doctors, it seemed almost impossible to keep him living. It was the shrapnel that had entered his chest. But much to their relief a specialist, Dr. Yinsen, who had worked with Howard a few times, had helped in the surgery on the young boy. He removed as much of the shrapnel that he could, but still some remained, so he used an experimental technology. A heart monitor made by an arch reactor. A miniature one at that. It had in fact worked. It saved his life. Though it didn't change the fact that he would have to charge it everyday.

At least none of them were dead.

None of them had made a sound or even cracked their eyes open that someone noticed. Both of them seemed to get closer and closer to going into a coma. Which wasn't good for they still had no idea who to call. It was still a good idea that the news hadn't known about them yet. Yes they did know about a plane crash that the Stark's had been in. But they did not know where they were exactly. And Yinsen had made it sure that the only people that knew about the two were him and the nurses and the surgeons. He though knew the number to call. His lawyer, Roberta Rhodes. But he had demanded that they waited for the phone call until they both woke up. Or at least one of them.

It had been three days after the crash and it had been clear that both of them were in a coma. Both of them! Which really wasn't a shock, but still there had been hopes that one of them would wake up so they could call as soon as possible. Though now, that it was cleared out about whether or not they were going to go in a coma, it made it a must to call Mrs. Rhodes. So Yinsen made his way to his office and dialed her number, on his personal cell.

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**So i hope i did a good job. I tried really hard on this. This is only part of chapter one, but i thought it was good enough for a "prologue." so please, review and tell me how i did. there will be Pepperony as always. and as a warning, Tony met Pepper before the crash. Thought i'd add that in so i dont forget.  
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**i understand that was not how the plane crash went and i don't mean to change it, but it fit the story, well it did to me, but it didn't change much other than Tony was able to keep his dad alive.  
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**Right now i'm going to work on Observations, then tomorrow i'll try to finish up Armored memories. Otherwise Tuesday or Wednesday. hopefully soon. Well hopefully this goes well and i'll try to update soon without bugging my time with other stories.****  
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	2. Chapter 1

**So i thought i'd give you the next part before i get into anything else. And some things are a bit far fetched as some could say, but please no negative comments. If i get any... But yeah...This is one of the longest chapters i'll put up. Well this whole story has chapters like this and this one was shortened by four pages! So yeah, its long but enjoy! **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing and nothing at all. Iron man armored adventures belong to its rightful owner.  
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(With Rhodey – day after the crash)

Rhodey sighed as he put his phone away in his pocket. Tony hadn't been answering his phone. It was odd cause he knew Tony was planning on taking a break from the lab. He knew that when Tony worked on a big project he nearly never answered his phone. But he knew Tony had finished it and had promised to tell him what it was after he tested it at the testing grounds with his father. He was excited, so Tony had wanted to keep it a big secret. And he hid that secret well. He locked the lab up, so Rhodey or his father could get in.

So Rhodey had no idea what the heck it was that was keeping Tony so secretive and unavailable. Tony didn't answer his phone calls. When he did, it was only to say hi then bye. Well not technically, but still it was short. He didn't even visit. He slept in his lab ordering his pizza's and only came out when his dad threatened to ground him or cut off on his allowance, there for it would have made it impossible to finish his project so he obliged to the threats and came out and hung out with Rhodey for a while, eat real food and talk to his dad, before returning to the lab.

At the moment Rhodey was heading his way home from school. In his free period, he tried calling Tony three times. Then he already called him twice before school. He had even tried calling Howard to ask, but the calls went straight to voice mail just as it did moments ago. Except now, it was saying the the phones were disconnected. 'Out of Service' it would say.

He shouldered his backpack on better and looked forward. He was almost home. But his mind kept thinking about Tony not answering his cell. He hadn't answered his phone not even for two seconds since he left for the testing grounds. The last time he saw Tony, had been the morning before he left. That was the last time Tony had answered his cell as well. He had claimed that he had to finish up the last bit of the 'project' before he showed it to his father.

Rhodey stepped up the stairs that led him to the door of his house. He opened the door and walked in while removing his shoes. He put his school bag that held his homework on the floor as he put his shoes and sweater away. It was the middle of fall and it was in fact getting a bit chilly. He grabbed his bag and made his way to his room and dropped it off still thinking about what Tony could possibly be doing that would disconnect his phone. And his dads phone at that.

He sat down with a sigh and decided he'd let it drop. Tony would come around. At one point he will. They were best friends. Almost like brothers. So he got up and decided to do his homework while he waited for his mom to come home.

He worked for little over two hours for the day held tons of work for English, mathematics, and surprisingly drama. Drama homework was rare for them. The worksheets were normally finished and big projects were normally done at school.

His mom had came home a little under the first hour of homework. She had spent a bit of time cleaning then cooking and then together they ate. Rhodey brought up his worries for Tony. Even to Howard and Roberta had agreed saying that she hasn't seen Howard ever since the plane left the runway or whatever. She worked as a lawyer for Howard and they were close friends. She normally knew where he was, but he hadn't shown up at his work. He was supposed to call, and he didn't.

Which all together, worried Rhodey all the more. But he knew the Stark's well enough to know that if Howard saw and liked the invention he'd probably add his own little touch to it to help improve the invention. But it still didn't explain why neither of them were answering their phones or showing up where they should be.

After they ate, they went to do their own thing. Rhodey went to study for his physics test the next day and Roberta went to watch the news in the living room. It was a few minutes for something to happen, but something did. And as much as one may want something new to happen in the house, something exciting, this wasn't what anyone would want to hear especially when it help personal matters to themselves.

It started with silence and then a loud _bang _as the remote being held by Roberta dropped and bashed onto the table. It was loud enough to get Rhodey in the room. Rhodey had stepped in the room, eyed his mother who was staring at the frozen picture on the screen as she paused it with the new cable system they bought not too long ago. Rhodey followed her glassy stare to the TV wondering what it was that was causing his mom such distress.

He then became just as his mom. Frozen and devastated. The headline of that days 'breaking news'. Was horrifying, but clear what it was trying to say.

"_Stark International plane crashes with no known survivor._"

All the two could do was stare. Stare at the frozen picture. Roberta's bottom lip began to quiver as her hand rose to her mouth. Tears welled up in her brown eyes. Rhodey would have looked the same if he hadn't been so shocked to react. This was why he wasn't answering his phone. This was why he and his father weren't where they were supposed to be. They were in that plane crash.

The frozen picture of the TV had been of the plane. The smoke and ashes of the remains of it. It was terrifying alone as it was. "Mom." He said with a shaky voice.

She looked over at her son. "Hmm."

"Hit play." He managed to get out.

She nodded and picked the fallen remote back up. She hit play and the screen of the TV moved. The speaker was a blur, but a few sentences were pretty clear.

"It is clear to us that the passengers of the plane were the Stark's. Traces have been left to where one of the two had landed. But the bodies are missing." The speaker said as a new picture flashed onto the screen.

It was a large piece of metal sticking out of the ground at a slant. It was zoomed it a bit more that the last one enough to see the surface and floor easier. Though the disturbing thing wasn't the dent in the metal or the smoke that had rose around it, but the blood that laid smeared on the surface of the metal. Closer to the center of the large piece of metal, was the apparently base of where the blood came from. Pretty much saying that who ever it was, Tony or Howard, had moved to try to save themselves or the person opposite of themselves. Whoever it was the chances that they actually made it out alive, looked slim with the amount of blood there was. Well the blood from the picture looked both fresh and old so it wasn't that long after whoever it was was there, and from the looks of the trail of the smeared blood it seemed like the person was planning on falling that short distance to the ground maybe to look for the other...?

The picture disappeared. The reporter saying something about no bodies found and there's still going to be further investigations. How they got the pictures that well and were actually allowed to show them at such an early stage of the investigation, was a mystery.

Rhodey took a deep breath and sat down. This wasn't him. He didn't cry. He stood strong when everyone else didn't. But now he was doing what he hadn't even dreamed of doing. Sure he was human he was bound to cry at some point, but he'd much rather have it be because maybe he broke his arm or leg. He didn't want to cry because his best friend, practically brother, was dead. There was still a chance he survived. Maybe he was just missing. Maybe he found his dad and got them to a hospital. But wouldn't the hospital have called the closest people to them already? Almost everyone knew that Roberta was Howard's lawyer and closest friend, and them being the only Starks, they had no other family. Well, Obadiah was pretty close to him, but it was also known to the world that due to Obadiah and his obsession with weapons and his constant demand that Howard made them, his friendship had dwindled.

Rhodey's thoughts deepened as he thought of anyone else that was close to Tony and his father. There was Pepper, but they weren't the best of friends and it wasn't known that the two were friends at all. There was also Whitney, but why on earth would the hospital call her and not them? Rhodey really wasn't too familiar with Howard's close friends were. He wasn't a stalker. He knew who Tony hung out with enough because he was his best friend after all.

His thoughts deepened once again at the thought of Pepper. He remembered the first time Tony had met her. It wasn't all that significant, but it made quite a few people smile and maybe even laugh. The day had been pretty clear to Rhodey.

(Flashback...)

_It was summer time and Tony was staying the week at Rhodey's house for his dad had been busy. Though on the fourth day of his visit or stay, Rhodey received a call. At the time, he hadn't known who it was, but he answered it. _

"_Hello?"_

"_Hey Rhodey!" A voice squealed over the phone sounding an awful lot like Pepper. "It's me Pepper! I found out what your number was."_

"_I can see that." Rhodey replied. _

_Pepper giggled happily on her line. "Anyways, I found this really weird movie that totally looks horrible. You have to come watch it with me tonight." _

"_Pepper, if it looks horrible, then why do you want to watch it?" _

"_Because, it looks horribly funny. The kind of horrible that is so horrible its funny. Its about big foot!"_

"_I don't even believe in big foot. Anyways I have Tony over right now for the rest of the week. I cant just leave him alone with my mom." Rhodey explained sitting down. _

_Tony was sitting on the chair in Rhodey's room while Rhodey talked to Pepper while sitting on the bed. _

_Pepper gave her best sigh of exasperation. "I don't either. It's just watching a whole bunch of fools chasing after big foot, then supposedly they find something that is more deadly than they thought. Just bring him with! Wait...Tony Stark is at your house!?" _

_Rhodey chuckled. "Yes he is." Tony had smiled at that. He hadn't heard what was said, but the sound of Rhodey's voice gave out enough. _

"_Then you have to bring him with!" Pepper almost screamed. _

"_Whoa, Pepper calm down." Rhodey said flinching from the phone. "Tony isn't the movie sort of person. Nor can he sit still unless he's inventing something."_

"_I don't care. I want to meet him. He's rich. Did you know that?" Pepper rambled. _

"_Yes I know he is. He's my best friend remember?"_

"_No I don't remember you ever hanging out with him. I've heard you mention him, I just thought you liked what he did or what not. Anyways, you better come within the next two hours. Two hours at tops Rhodey. Or I swear you will regret it." _

"_Okay okay. We'll be there." Rhodey said and just after he said that she had hung up. _

_Tony raised an eyebrow at his friend. "Not a movie person?"_

"_I don't know. Pepper's a bit on the crazy side. She obsesses about people. She tried to arrest someone once." _

"_Really?" Tony said laughing. _

"_No kidding."_

_It was later that day when they were outside the door of Pepper's place. They had left a little over an hour after the phone call, but didn't risk making it two. Pepper wasn't lying when she said they'd regret it. _

"_Tony are you sure about this?" Rhodey had said. "I'm mean, how bad could it be if we just backed away now."_

"_According to you, super bad." Tony pointed out and knocked on the door._

_"Last chance." Rhodey warned turning to the door. _

_Before Tony could reply at all, the door opened and Pepper stood at the doorstep with both of her hands clasped excitedly in front of her. _

"_Ooh you came!" She squeaked. Her eyes moved to Tony and her jaw dropped. "Oh my..."_

_Her face lit up almost like a Christmas tree. She hadn't really thought that he was with Rhodey. It didn't help that Rhodey had said that he wasn't a movie person. _

"_Whoa! It's really you! I thought...maybe Rhodey was lying, but this...this is just..." She smiled from ear to ear and in the 'heat of the moment' she had excitedly grabbed his hand. "I can't believe. Normally I wouldn't...i would not have acted like this, but its...its just so unbelievable."_

_Her smile dropped as if she was shocked again. She looked down at her hands and realized she was squeezing the circulation out of his hand. But then also realized that Tony hadn't pulled away...why?_

_Her face turned red in embarrassment and she reluctantly let go of his hand. She laughed nervously. "Heh eh. Sorry... just...sorry, I didn't...I-I'm sorry..." _

_Rhodey was trying his best not to laugh his head off. It was hard to contain his laughter. Then when Pepper had turned around gesturing to the other two teens to follow she had, out of nervousness, tripped. "Whoa!"_

_Tony had literally flung himself forward and his arms were immediately around her stomach, catching her. He helped her steady herself and when she looked back and saw that it was Tony and Not Rhodey that had caught her. Rhodey knew her and Tony didn't and Tony had been the one that caught her. Her face had been redder than a tomato._

"_Lets just go watch the movie!" She said now avoiding looking at Tony. _

_So they did. They walked in her place and got ready with popcorn and everything for the 'horrible' movie. _

(Flashback end...)

Rhodey since then always knew that the two were as some would say 'meant to be'. Pepper since that day had calmed down about seeing Tony. She was right when she said that normally she wouldn't have acted like that. Normally she would have just frozen with her jaw dropped, but the fact that she'd been crushing on Tony for who knows how long, didn't help the situation.

Rhodey shook his head and returned to reality again. He didn't want to, but he had to. He had no other choice. He may have times where he can escape reality in a memory, like that one. But not always. No matter what life catches up with you.

"Mom..." Rhodey said not really knowing what it was that he wanted.

Looking over at him curiously and slightly looking as Rhodey had. Like she just returned to reality also. "Hmm."

"You okay?" He said the first thing that came to mind.

She blinked some tears away. She nodded. "Yes. I am. We'll both be okay."

Rhodey nodded. He wanted to cry. He did. But he couldn't and he wouldn't. He would be strong about this as he was normally the one to stay sane of all his friends. Which he could pretty much single out as Tony, Pepper, and, well that's it. Pepper _was _a bit crazy, but that is what people like about her. Rhodey wasn't a big fan of it, but he did like that her craziness made Tony smile and come out of the lab more often.

Something about Pepper had changed Tony. To Rhodey it was obvious. For anyone to notice, they had to know Tony. Tony smiled more, he came out of the lab, answered more phone calls, and was eating a lot more.

So Rhodey sat there thinking about the plane crash and wondering what exactly went on. Did Tony and his father die? Did they survive? Where are they? Who's blood was on the picture? For now it was left unknown. For now it was a mystery.

(With Dr. Yinsen – day of phone call)

Dr. Yinsen listened to the phone ring as he waited for Mrs. Rhodes to answer the phone call. He while the phone was ringing, was walking his way to the hallway to where his two newest patients that were in critical but stable conditions. The reason he had to make this phone call.

"Hello?" A strained voice sounded on the other end of the phone.

It wasn't that late, but it was sunset. About an hour after the average New York school day ends. So hopefully he didn't call at a bad time.

"Hello Mrs. Rhodes. I'm-"

"If you're calling to sell me something I'm not buying." Roberta cut him off.

Yinsen blinked in surprise. "No...I'm specialist Dr. Ho Yinsen and I'm calling about the status of Howard and Tony Stark."

There was a pause and a shout on the other line and Yinsen paused his walking and waited. "Sorry. Be just a minute."

There was a few sounds, a beep, and another shout. "Okay what is it you have to say? Are they dead?"

"No! No no! Their fine." Yinsen could hear _two _sighs of relief. He raised an eyebrow. "Well, not exactly fine...but their alive. Found them in the alleyway down the block...how they got there from the plane, I'll never know. But they're both in a coma."

Another pause. "Thanks Doctor."

"Its what I do."

"W-where are they?"

Yinsen started to walk again and entered Howard Starks room. He looked fine and stable. He had stitches on his arms, legs, face, and even his back. Burns ran up and down randomly at his body.

"They got transferred yesterday to The Stark International hospital wing. They have been kept under watch and we've made sure that press or reporter don't get their location. So that's why you haven't heard anything. We can't have people swarming them or making huge stories about what happened. Things happen when this kind of thing gets on the news."

"Can we see him?"

"Is 'we' saying you and your son?"

"Yes." There was another beep and the sound of a hushed conversation. "So how are they?"

"Howard should be fine. He hit his head and got some pretty bad cuts and burns, but...Tony He lost a lot of blood, and his heart...he got a experimental heart implant that has to be charged daily. His leg-" He broke off from the phone call and he nearly dropped his phone.

"Hello?" Roberta's voice sounded at a distance as his had had pulled away from his head. "Hello? Dr. Yinsen?"

He pulled the phone back to his ear again. "S-sorry. There's a problem..."

"What is it? Is something wrong?"

"Tony's missing." Yinsen choked out.

"_What!_" Roberta almost shouted.

"H-he was just right here. Only f-five minutes ago!" Yinsen said searching the room. "The backpack we found him with i-it's gone."

"You think he walked off?" Roberta asked.

"No. He wasn't stable enough. He wouldn't be able to walk without pain. He couldn't have gotten very far. In other words he's too weak to move on his own, let alone walk."

"He was kidnapped?"

"I don't know. Well if you want to come visit Howard visiting hours start soon." Yinsen sighed. "I'll work on finding Tony. Don't worry about it." Then he hung up.

The only thing he could do was stare. Tony was there just there three minutes ago, and there was no visitor waiting for him. No one should have known about Tony being in the hospital. Everyone thought he was dead. Yinsen instantly went to Howard's room. He was still there.

Yinsen rushed out to the hallway and made his way to the counter that was on the floor.

"Holly, did anyone come in through here?" He asked the woman at the desk.

She shook her head. "Only you, and Bella. But Bella was pushing a cart to the records room."

"Thanks." Yinsen went off to find Bella.

He found her filing away the record's of the patients in the record room. "Bella."

"Yes Dr. Yinsen?" She replied setting down her current file.

"How long have you been in here?"

"I don't know, maybe ten minutes. Why?"

"Tony Stark is missing."

Bella froze. "What?"

"I don't know. I called his father's lawyer, she's also close friends with the Starks and when I returned to check if they were still critical, Tony was gone and so was his backpack."

Yinsen had started to pace wondering what could have happened if Tony was too weak to move and even if he wasn't, he wouldn't have gotten far. It didn't help that he was a few floors up, so he couldn't just jump out the window. At least not without killing himself, but the window was sealed shut. They don't let the windows open. They use vents and stuff to air out the place.

"Did you check the security tapes?" Bella said cutting through his thoughts.

"What?-No."

"Then lets go!" Bella said pushing the record cart aside.

She rushed forward out of the room holding Yinsen's arm. He followed her to the camera room and the security guard was typing something frantically into the computer.

"Sam!" Bella snapped.

'Sam' looked up from the computer. "Yes...?"

"What are you doing?"

"I-i don't know, Tony's missing. I assume that's why your here. To see how."

"Yep."

Sam turned in his chair and pulled out something and pointed to the screen that held Tony's room. He rewinded it so Tony was still in there and said, "This is about 1 minute before he disappeared."

They watched and still nothing happened. Though after a minute the video glitched and then when it stopped glitching, Tony was gone and there stood Yinsen on the phone with Roberta.

"What the..." Bella mumbled. "Did someone cut the camera feed or something?"

Sam looked down. "No I wasn't looking at the time, but there was a beeping sound, and when I had looked over Tony was gone. It wasn't cut or anything, cause if you notice as soon as Yinsen entered the room, the camera feed was back. Whatever it was that made Tony disappear, it must have had a scrambler or something for any camera in the room."

Yinsen sighed. "I have to get back down there. I see Roberta."

In fact he did. On one of the security cameras. He saw her stepping into a elevator. He stepped out of the crowded room and into the hallway lost in his thoughts as he made his way back to Howard's hallway. He couldn't stop thinking about the missing feed. _What happened? Where did Tony go? Is he alright? _Normally he didn't focus too much on one patient, but saying he only see's certain people of certain conditions and knowing Howard for quite a long time, he couldn't help but care a little too much.

He finally made it to the right hallway and saw Roberta talking to Holly trying to convince her that she was family. She wasn't alone. Her son sat at a chair sitting worriedly at the side.

"Mrs. Rhodes." He called. "Holly its fine. She is family."

Holly nodded and waved Roberta off. Roberta and her son walked up to Dr. Yinsen.

"Dr. Yinsen, did you...?" Her sentence trailed off as she saw his look.

"I did not. Sadly that's not all. I checked the security feed, and we did not see what happened. We can put out a search warrant out with police permission, but I'm sorry to say that's the best I can do at the moment. I'm also sadly reporting that there's a high percentage that Tony... did not make it."

Roberta swallowed and held a breath. Rhodey's heart could have just shattered. Finding out his best friend was in a plane crash and knowing he was dead, was easier than not knowing. He wanted a straight answer. He wanted the answer he knew he'd never get. At least not for a while.

"Can we just see Howard?" Roberta asked after a long moment.

"Of course." Yinsen said.

He led them the short distance to Howard's room. They walked in slowly, but confidently. Silently they had promised to be strong about the whole matter, but with the question at whether or not Tony was alive just shook Rhodey to the bone. Sure it got Roberta as well, but she was closer to Howard and not as close to Tony, but it was still heartbreaking to think about.

Stressing as well.

Roberta silently took a seat by Howard's side. Rhodey stood uncomfortably by the door. He didn't know if he should sit down and comfort his mom or to walk out of the depressing hospital and maybe go find Pepper. Considering how much pain she must be in. No, she didn't know Tony nearly as much as Rhodey did, but she was one of the few that got to know the real Tony. The Tony that cared and loved, and wanted to spend time with his friends. The Tony that wanted to save lives. Who laughed and got red when he was with Pepper. Who always listened to other peoples problems before speaking his own.

As much as he wanted to comfort his mom, which he did and he will, he was almost eager to go to Pepper's. Almost. Cause he knew what it would be like. Either depressing as the hospital, or too jittery for him. But he needed her to know so she didn't stress out and go crazy on him. She expected him to know everything about where Tony was. It was odd and kinda disturbing.

(Flashback)

_It was Rhodey's lunch hour at school and he at the moment couldn't get his mind off a test that was after that hour. He had finished eating and was sitting alone somewhere. _

"_Hey Rhodey!" A peppy and very familiar voice squealed. "Why so glum?"_

"_I'm not glum. I'm just thinking Pepper." Rhodey answered looking back._

"_So wheres Tony? Will he ever go to school? How is he?" _

"_Pepper! I don't know where he is, no, I'm sure he's fine." Rhodey replied. _

"_You're his best friend and best friends should know where their best friend is." _

"_Yeah, but its not like I follow him around. I'm no stalker."_

_"If you're implying that I'm stalking Tony, I'm not. Following him around, sending him a billion texts, and going to his house 24/7, is stalking. I only send him about 46 texts a day and about 13 calls, which by the way he seems to be avoiding me."_

_Rhodey chuckled at her logic about 46 texts not being stalkerish. "He's not avoiding you trust me."_

"_How do you know? Does he talk to you about me? What does he say!?" _

"_I know because I know him, and when he gets lost inventing something, he wont even answer my phone calls. And he talks about you, but not in a bad way. I think he likes you." _

_Pepper almost screamed so loud, Rhodey could have gone deaf. "Whoa, I didn't think...I...Ohmigosh! What if he does! What do I say! Am I supposed to do something?"_

"_Calm down Pepper!" Rhodey said raising his hands up. "Don't do anything. Just wait until you guys are closer. I mean you have only met in person three times." _

"_You just love putting me down don't you." Pepper said and the bell had rang._

…

_(3 days later)_

_Rhodey was walking away from his locker and was about to head home. _

"_Ooh! Wait! Rhodey!" Pepper's voice sounded loud even through the crowded hallway of high school. _

_Rhodey sighed and moved to the side of the hallway and waited for her to catch up. "So where's Tony now?"_

"_Pepper! I told you I don't know where he is twenty-four seven. He's probably working on a project." Rhodey replied. _

_Crossing her arms, she replied to his comment. "You should."_

…

_(2 days later) _

_At his locker packing and unpacking the stuff he needed for class, Rhodey sighed as he heard the familiar yell of Pepper at the end of the hallway. _

_He knew exactly what she was going to say. 'where's Tony?' or something like that. So when she ran up to him he just looked to her and said, "Tony went on a meeting with his dad today. And no I have no idea if he has any plans." _

_She glared at him. "It's not like I ask you everyday." _

"_I don't talk to you everyday, and when I do, it's either about homework, Tony, school, Tony, or your drama from home." Rhodey said holding his books and walked to class he shared with Pepper. _

"_You said Tony twice. And I do to talk to you everyday..." She replied looking down. _

"_No you don't, and I said Tony twice cause you're obsessing." _

"_Am not." _

"_Are too. Just stop before we start to look like little kids." _

_Pepper had stayed quiet about Tony for...four days. A record, but still annoyed the heck out of Rhodey that he had literally dragged Tony to Pepper's house for an hour every other day. _

(End flashback)

Sitting down in a chair beside his mom, he started to mumble comforting things to his mother. She was naturally a strong and well put together person, even that time when Rhodey had broke his arm. Or when one of her cousins passed away. She was pretty strong there. She was the one supporting the others who couldn't. Though now it was something personal. Rhodey's arm could be healed, without the possibility that he could die. Howard though could've died and still can. Tony had gone missing.

She hadn't known Tony much except when he was with Howard and not working on something in his lab, or when she was watching him. Or when he visited Rhodey. But still the thought of some of the nicest people that only wished to help people, going through something as bad as a plane crash, still shocked her mind.

"Mom, you gonna be okay?" Rhodey asked looked at her.

She took a deep breath and looked back at her son. "Yeah."

"You don't mind then, if I go see if Pepper's okay? This place is depressing."

She only nodded and hugged her son and watched as he left the room. She instantly went to looking at Howard's frail looking body.

Rhodey walked out of the hospital and had already called on a taxi by five minutes and less. He really didn't want to be at the hospital. He knew about Tony going missing, he knew about Tony most likely being dead by now. He just didn't want to think about it. It was stressing.

On the way the only thing he could really think of other than what he was going to say to Pepper, was the fact that this had to happen to Tony and his dad. It could have happened to anyone, that made Rhodey sound harsh, but he was just upset. He wished that it hadn't happened. He wanted to know how it happened. Did the pilot fall asleep? Was the plane attacked? What happened?

Lost in his thoughts, he almost missed that the Taxi had stopped in front of Pepper's house. So he paid the expense that he owed and walked out of the taxi and looked at the door. He normally didn't go to her house with no warning what so ever. The first time he did it, was the first time he had forcefully dragged Tony to her house to see if her seeing him more, would shut her up about Tony. The last time he did it, was when Pepper had stole Tony's phone and put her phone in his pocket and Rhodey had went to return her phone. Tony had come with a bit mad about her stealing his phone, but they were still close friends at that point.

Knocking on the door he sighed. All the memories flooding in his mind of this place when Tony had come over. He remembered Tony falling asleep while they were all eating and his head had fallen in a bowl of soup and he almost choked when he breathed in his food. Then he remembered Tony also falling asleep on the floor of the hallway when he was heading to use the bathroom. Or the time Tony sprained his ankle helping Pepper reach something on top of the cupboards by standing on an unstable chair. Or the other time when he tripped on the edge of a rug and had rammed into Pepper's dad.

Pepper had answered the door, looking like herself, but not like herself. A bit calmer, but still herself. "Hey Rhodey."

"Hey Pepper." Rhodey said. He also remembered Tony's nickname for her. Pep. "Mind if I come in?"

"My dad's at work so I have no one to talk to, so sure." She said putting on a smile he knew was fake. At least she tried.

He stepped in and after taking off his shoes, he followed Pepper into the living room where she was watching cartoons. She sat down and so did he.

"I think I know why you're so glum now." She said. "I'd be upset too, if my best friend got killed."

Rhodey's eyes opened widely and he looked at her. "Killed?"

"Well I don't know if they _were _killed, but my dad's an FBI agent, and he's been working on the whole plane crash case. They've suspected that Obadiah Stane is the closest they got, so they're questioning him today. The way the plane crashed wasn't normal, there was an explosion, before the plane touched the ground."

"How do you know all of this? And how do they knew it exploded before the plane touched the ground?" Rhodey asked tilting his head.

"The plane if it was a normal plane crash wouldn't have been in better shape, maybe a few metal pieces of the outside shell of the plane would be lost or a door and glass, but this plane was in literally in shreds, the biggest pieces of the plane were severed from the main part of the plane, oh and I know all of this because I hack into my dad's computer files."

Rhodey looked at the TV. She continued to speak as she noticed that he wasn't really ready to speak. "I know it must hurt, but they're probably in a better place. And I also know anyone who has someone close die, they all say they're in a better place, but they're right."

"Howard's not dead." Rhodey blurted. He knew the doctor's were trying to keep it as secret as possible, but she was one of Tony's only friends.

"What? They all said there was no survivors." Pepper said now the one that was confused.

"Tony was alive as well, but...he went missing. And they're all saying he was too weak to go on without the drugs or life support that they had him on. So most likely...he didn't make it, but Howard's in a coma." Rhodey's voice was full of dread.

Pepper looked down. "I'm sorry."

"You don't need to be sorry. I was wondering how the plane had crashed. If it was just pure luck, or on purpose, I know you don't really know if it was accident or not, but I'd just like to think it was something to do with the engine." Rhodey said resting his head back.

Pepper sighed, in a tone that was rare for her to hold. "I hope he isn't dead, and if he did, I hope it was painless."

Closing his eye's he started to remember all the good times he had with him. He didn't want to think of all the bad that has happened, but the good. All his memories of Tony would be happy. Not sad. He'd be strong, he'd allow himself to cry, to stay silent about his best friend, but he'd only allow it to be a bit and not a lot.

He knew there was a chance Tony was still alive and hopefully he was, but it was best not to stress about it and let whatever happens happen. If he's alive and the police find him and bring him home, so be it, but if they find him and he's dead, so be it. If they don't find him, then he'd just suspect he was dead and keep hope that it was painless and peaceful.

So staying strong he had returned to his mother who had seemed better than she had when he left. Together they stayed strong and shared their hopes. They were going to try their best to find out what happened to Tony. Then they'd find out more about the plane crash, but they were going to have to be patient.

So being strong was the best thing they could do. So they were. They were strong and brave.

* * *

**Any good? I took a while to write this one chapter, but i'll live with it. Hopefully you will too. Review? **


	3. Chapter 2

**So heres the next chapter. I've been thinking about redoing this chapter, and changing it to something else, but thought otherwise when it would just mess up the other chapters ahead. and i really hope some more people warm up to this story, cause i know hardly anyone is reading it, but i honestly don't care. well i do, but i'm not going to be picky cause i do have some people reading it and i'm having fun with this story. **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing at all, Iron man armored adventures is owned by its rightful owner.  
**

* * *

(20 months later)

It had been almost 2 years since Tony had mysteriously disappeared. 1 year and 8 months to be exact. Or to be more exact, 608 days. Rhodey and Pepper had actually became best friends and had stuck together through their final years of school. They were now in their last year. Meaning they were both seniors. Pepper had dimmed down on the craziness and Rhodey had become less serious. He laughed, he smiled, he even made new friends. Not many, but it was better than being alone.

It was a Monday and Rhodey was walking to school with Pepper. They had started that two weeks after Howard had woken up from his coma. Or the close to the same day that he was let out. It had only been one week after he had woken up that he found out about his son. He took Tony's 'death' pretty hard. Everyone had suspected that Tony had been dead. The police still had signs and search parties looking for him every once in a while, but they stopped sending them daily. They now only send one like every other week.

Once they were at school, they were allowed to think. Allowed to think and lose themselves like they always did when they thought. Especially in lunch or free period. They could think of Tony, of Howard, of what had happened. Like when Howard was in the hospital for practically a month.

It took Howard about three weeks to wake up from his coma, but even then he was always sleeping, in surgery, or talking with visitors. Since he woke up he was in the hospital for about a good two weeks as he got health treatments and tests. Once he got out though, he took a big long break from Stark International, leaving control in Obadiah's hands, though he knew that once he took over there would be countless amounts of weapon sales. That he'd have to cancel.

Howard had moved to a nice house somewhere near Roberta's place to be close to family. He didn't buy much stuff despite still have tons of money. He didn't feel right that he got to live longer than his own son. A parent should never live longer than their children. It didn't feel right. So if he had to be the one that lived, he wasn't going to live it in pure luxury.

So Rhodey and Pepper had visited him a few times asking for stories. Well mainly that was Pepper, but Rhodey was also curious, none of them really knew about Tony's past. Just that he was rich, his dad owned Stark International, he invented things since he was young, and he was a genius with a kind heart. Howard told them about many things they had not known.

Tony had lost his mother at age four during a robbery in the middle of the night when Howard was in his lab working. Maria had heard the robbers and had instantly went to see if Tony was alright, she got caught and was strangled. Tony had gotten up hearing the noise from Maria struggling, they were in fact in Tony's area, he'd found her and hid while the robbers finished and left. He had slept at his mothers side until he was woken up by Howard, who had came home hours later. All of it was caught on tape and all missing items were found as well as the robbers.

Another thing they learned that he made an engine at age four and a half, that was more high tech than almost every engine at the time and many years after. He had made a weird ball that if bounced right and hits the hand at a good angle, it becomes a glove that guarantees warmth in the winter at age six. He had tried jumping off a building sure that he had made a sweater that would make him fly. He was stopped before he jumped. He had snuck out of the house at night for a week determined to catch a mythical creature. He got caught when Howard had woke up with a headache.

All those stories made Tony seem normal yet special at the same time. His mother's death had been hidden and claimed as a car crash. Howard had pressed that her death wasn't the public's matter, so they didn't need to know the truth. The ball and engine proved him to be a genius. Him wanting to fly made him seem normal. Most children would attempt to jump of something, either it was a building or a car, or something else, it didn't matter, just that they were trying to fly.

Though their thoughts had to end at some point when school ended and they forced themselves not to think about it. Memories faded as they entered the crowded streets of New York. And of course it being Monday and all, it was busy as work started up again and taxi's and bus's everywhere. As always.

Pepper walked at Rhodey's side not really thinking of much anymore. Though it wasn't really a shock, they were still surprised that the event of the plane crash had been in the books about recent history. It was on TV and newspapers constantly even after almost 2 years. And the depressing thing was, was that their school had been talking about it an awful lot since the 2 year anniversary was arriving soon. Only four months left.

"So how's your day?" Rhodey asked her the first to speak.

"It was fine despite it being a pretty down day. I mean, why do they have to include the plane crash into our modern history? I see no point. It only depresses those it held to personally. That teacher knew exactly that you had it bad for his death. It wasn't right." Pepper ranted.

Rhodey sighed knowing she was right, but there was nothing they could do, for even if they had started some kind of project to hold against them talking about it, they'd fail because too many people were interested in what had happened that day. Though really all they were shared was that the plane crashed killing Tony Stark and the pilot, along with the servers on the plane that gave safety to the passengers and water and food. Howard had survived and hadn't wanted a public funeral. Even thought there was none, no body knew that though.

"I know, but there's nothing we could do. Everyone's interested in what happened." Rhodey said as they rounded a corner on their way to Rhodey's house.

"Why they don't seem so interested when we're learning about world war II. If anything they seem bored. Or 9/11, or pearl Harbor, or the civil war. Nothing, but the death of a rich genius in a plane crash and his father surviving is." Pepper said a bit angrily.

Normally they tried to put this kind of thing behind them and think of other things, like they promised, but sometimes when school seemed to want to subject it and assign it in a school project. Though Rhodey got lucky enough to get passed on that after a phone call to his mother regarding the truth for not everyone knew that Rhodey was best friends with Tony.

"Calm down Pepper. It's not the end of the world." Rhodey advised.

"Easy for you to say. You got off on the assignment and got switched to doing a full report on the Vietnam war. Nobody believed me that I was close to Tony too."

"That's cause everyone believed you were still obsessing."

Pepper crossed her arms. "Still."

Rhodey rolled his eyes and they continued to walk as they listened to the usual loud sounds of New York. The honk of cars and taxi's, the car's engine running, people shouting, and the occasional loud laugh of somebody passing by while they were on the phone.

Still just barely in the busy part of New York, the two were only passing an alleyway by, when they were both snatched away. Some people looked over and some hesitated whether or not it was a good idea to call the cops to jump the gun at a kidnapping, but just shook their heads supposing some else was going to call. In the end, no one did.

The two were pulled away from the crowded streets, and deeper into the alley way. Both struggled, but the multiple sets of arms were like steel. Never to let go. Though the best they got, was Pepper getting the best of one of the sets of arms and getting a good punch to the gut, but whoever it was must have either been used to getting punched or had something tough under his jacket, for he hadn't even phased. They were roughly shoved into a van with no reason what-so-ever for being kidnapped. Both of their phones were pulled out of their pockets and their backpacks as well.

Pepper hadn't stopped talking the entire ride there and kept threatening that her dad was going to come and they would pay cause he was FBI. Though really she shouldn't be sharing that kind of information especially to criminals, but they had just ignored her or told her to shut it. Rhodey had listened very well, and to Pepper she thought he was just kissing up to the criminals.

It wasn't long til they had stopped and once again they were roughly pulled out of the van in blindfolded just in case they knew where they were and had found a way to contact help. Only minutes later they were sitting down and the blindfolds were gone. They looked at each other as two people walked in the room.

They both looked sort of ridiculous, but still looked like they could cause a lot of damage. The one that stood closest like the leader, was in a multi-blue and yellow high tech looking suit. His helmet, had spike like things set to the back of his head standing up. He seemed to have some sort of weapon on his arms. His mouth still showed and it was in a a grim line. The other one that stood with his arms crossed in annoyance, wore a green and slightly blue and orange high tech suit. Some what like the other, but had a orange horn that looked particularly dangerous, on his head. And it also made it look like he had four eyes. They looked ridiculous, but dangerous.

The blue and yellow one spoke first. "You must be wondering why you're here." His voice was raspy.

"Not really. We just want to get out of here. Who the heck are you, anyways?" Pepper said angrily.

"If you must know, I'm Killer Shrike and that is my partner, Unicorn."

Pepper made a half choking, half laughing noise. "Are you kidding me? You gotta be. Those are horrible names! Where did you even come up with these?"

"Shut it!" Killer Shrike yelled. "You are here to serve a very important deed. You are bait for this new 'hero'. Not very known, but we're going to be the ones to bring him down before he does become known."

Pepper only rolled her eyes, wondering how these two came to know this hero, and how kidnapping two lame teens was going to bait him out of his hiding, if he wasn't even known in New York. Her thoughts only deepened as the time passed and nothing happened.

There was a clock in the room luckily and according to the clock, three hours had passed and nothing had happened. Pepper and Rhodey only got hungrier and more bored. Pepper who was always asking for life to be less boring and more exciting kept whispering to Rhodey that this wasn't what she meant by wanting more excitement. Rhodey had only shook his head.

At some poing around where it was getting dark, their cell phones had begun to ring. Pepper at some point though, convinced the people holding their phones to tell them who it was that was calling or texting.

Some where around 7 o'clock, Roberta called about three times. Forty-five minutes later Pepper's dad called. Not long later Roberta called as well. Some where when the clock had just past 10 o'clock, they both had called about 5 to seven more times. Texts as well. Then when it was finally Tuesday when the two teens had fallen asleep and had woken up to yelling. Only 1 o'clock AM and they were awoken.

Unicorn was standing nearly in their faces. "How about you text your parent or whoever it is that keeps calling, and tell them you're fine you had to school stuff or something and show me before you send it."

Tiredly they complied and Pepper sent her dad, _sorry I havnt ansrd ur calls, Ive been busy with scool wrk. Won't be home 4 a while. Oh and luv u. _Rhodey sent his mom, _dnt b mad, I had homewrk 4 school. Wont b home 4 a bit. Maybe tomorrow. _

They returned the phones to the criminal and waited until minutes later Unicorn spoke up again. "Who's Howard?" It was directed to Rhodey.

"Uh...he's a family friend. Real close." Rhodey replied not looking him in the eye.

"Well, then." Unicorn said tucking away the phone.

"Why don't you just turn off the phone?" Pepper said annoyed and tiredly. "I mean, then you wouldn't run into the problem that you have to pick up the phone in the first place."

Rhodey elbowed her in the ribs and she muttered, "What!? I'm just saying."

"Just saying will get us in trouble."

Pepper only sighed rubbing her ribs. They sat in silence for hours again. At one point they were fed and allowed sleep. Though after awhile sirens and shouting woken them up. Both of them instantly looked at the clock. 4:30 AM. Light shined through the windows looking better than anything else in the room. The light from the daylight shown with reds and blues. Shadows as well.

Though when they looked around they realized they were moved to the corner of the far side wall, and they were tied up by the wrists and ankles. Pepper was about to speak something, when Rhodey slapped his hand over her mouth. She shoved it off and he urgently gestured with his head over to the side. She looked over and realized what he was freaking out about. Bomb. It wasn't one of those timer ones, other wise it would have had a timer on it. So it had to be one that had to be activated like by a button or releasing the thumb or something. Rhodey only sighed and laid his head back hoping for the best. Pepper angrily looked down at her knees.

* * *

(With Roberta) ~midnight.

Roberta tried to sleep. She did, but it was hard when her son wasn't answering her phone calls. She knew he most likely went to Pepper's house and forgot to tell her, but normally he would answer her phone calls. She got out of bed lazily and walked out to see if Rhodey had come home at all. He hadn't. So she tried calling him again. Nothing. Sighing she started to pace in her kitchen as she held a cup of water.

She thought deeply at what she was going to do. She stayed like that for what seemed like hours. Only it had only been one hour and she decided she'd try one more time at dialing her son before she called Virgil, Pepper's dad, then Howard.

She got nothing so she shook her head and dialed onto Virgil's phone.

Only one ring and he answered. "Hello?" His voice sounded full of hope. Must not have looked at caller ID.

"Hello Virgil." Roberta said. "I'm sorry to bother you at this hour, but have you seen my son James?"

"James, you mean Rhodey? No I haven't I was thinking about asking you because Pepper never came home. Though maybe she went over to your place." He said. His voice was strained and tired.

Roberta paused for a moment debating whether or not to declare it was the two of them sneaking off. Though knowing her son, he wouldn't have done that. Not even with Tony.

"I tried calling Pepper a million times, no answer." Virgil continued.

"Me too. What do you think happened?" Roberta asked.

"I don't know, but do you know of anyone else?"

Roberta shook her head. "No. But I was thinking about calling Howard. He'd be able to help track their phones. Then all we have to do is follow the tracking device, and we should have them. Hopefully."

"Okay, I'll let you go." Then the phone was hung up.

She immediately started to dial Howard. It took him a while to pick up, but after a few rings, he answered sounding surprised and tired. "H-hello." Definitely had a long day.

"Sorry Howard, I was wondering do you know where James and Pepper are?" Roberta said getting to the point.

"No. I've been sleeping." He said. "Why?"

"None of them came home. Virgil confirmed it. They won't answer their phones."

"Calm down. Don't panic. Do you want help?"

"Yes. Please."

Their was a pause then he returned. "I'll call you back."

She waited awhile until she got a text. She looked at it and it said that it was Rhodey. She instantly opened the text and read it. It read: _dnt b mad, I had homewrk 4 school. Wont b home 4 a bit. Maybe tomorrow. _

"What?" She whispered to herself.

Rhodey had probably did have homework, but he did that at home, at Pepper's, and sometimes at Howard's even when Howard wasn't home. Rhodey would've been at one of their homes. So where was he? This couldn't be right, cause it was only Monday, and Rhodey knew he had school the next day.

She replied to it, with no answer.

She continued to pace around her kitchen and had in the process, made toast. She ate it worriedly wondering where her son was and even where Pepper was, cause the facts led that they were with each other. About two hours later of pacing, eating, falling asleep, and a bit of TV, her phone rang.

She answered it before the first ring. "Hello?"

"Hey Roberta, I've checked out the problem with the kids. I've tried calling Rhodey, but he didn't answer. But, I got a friend in the police department to track the phones, cause mine broke, and said it said they're phones were both in a warehouse just outside of the city. Yet they're still in New York City, just not in the busiest part of it." Howard's voice sounded. "The police offered to go check it out. What do I tell them?"

Roberta sighed wondering what took him so long to call back, but dropped it. "Tell them sure. I want to be sure that James is alright. As well as Pepper."

"Sure thing. I'll send you the address, you can go there just don't go in the building." Then Howard hung up.

She called Virgil to tell him what she just heard from Howard and he agreed to meet her there. He was an FBI agent after all and it was his daughter, and if it was a kidnapping, then he'd be sure to help them.

Roberta took a few water bottles just in case and ran to get her things to leave. It only took her a matter of minutes before she was out and ready to drive. She took deep breaths to calm herself ready to look serious when she got there. She was brave enough to look sane on the outside, but on the inside she was panicking at the thought that her son was kidnapped.

She got to the place and looked at her watch. It was almost 4 o'clock. She stepped out and stood to the side and the police had arrived and some had gone inside the building. Some climbed the side with special tech, and after about ten minutes they confirmed that it was a kidnapping and they had spotted the teens. Though the bad news was they were spotted by high tech wearing criminals. And then they saw the teens get dragged to the corner and tied up.

Howard and Virgil showed up. Virgil was wearing his work uniform offering help. Howard stood by Roberta's side and kept her sane so she didn't go yelling off to the police officers to do something. After a half hour of the police hardly doing anything, someone walked out and from the inside shouting was heard. That someone that walked out was the criminal the police knew as Unicorn.

"I'd leave if I were you." He warned while smirking. "We have the kids by a bomb and you see if Killer Shrike decides your getting too close he'll tell me to press this button."

Some people stayed back not wanting to get to close and having the bomb blow up the two hostages.

Virgil took a brave step forward. "What do you want?"

"I want someone. He's not known, but he tends to show up when someones in danger." Unicorn said.

"Who's this someone?"

"I don't really know. I've seen him once before and he had a big fight with some criminals somewhere out of town. No more questions."

Unicorn walked back into the building and left the police wondering what to do.

* * *

(Inside the warehouse)

Rhodey and Pepper looked around and watched as the main criminals henchmen, took their place around the building. Pepper seemed to be battling herself about talking or not. Not, won. She just worriedly picked at the ropes. Rhodey just nervously eyed the bomb and Killer Shrike as he held a communicator. At some point they over heard them talking about the 'hero'. They had started to argue about who's idea it was to kidnap useless children, and that someone famous would have been better. Or arguing about why he wasn't arriving at all.

Pepper leaned over and closed her eyes wondering if this would have happened if Tony was still alive. He'd probably just barge into the place without a second thought about his own safety. She also thought about what her dad was doing. Surely he found out about them. Their excuses were quite pathetic. Homework in the middle of the night? no. That wasn't real.

Rhodey thought more on his mom and what she must be thinking. Was she sleeping soundly? Probably not. Did she find out about the kidnapping? Hopefully. His mind filled with questions that he wished he had positive answers to.

Tiredly he had dozed off a few times and had woken up not sure where he was. Then when he remembered his hopes fell like a brick off a building. Fast and hard. The only thing different from the last time, was the shouts coming from out side. It sounded a lot like Unicorn. He was shouting at the police to stop what they were doing and leave.

He looked over at Pepper who's head was tilted to the side carelessly, making it obvious she was asleep. He wanted to wake her up so he didn't feel so alone in there and that it wasn't just him that was awake, but he thought otherwise when he remembered that she wasn't the type that woke up easily. So he just watched as some of the henchmen moved out to most likely to help threaten the police away.

He moved and accidentally caused Pepper to fall lazily forward. He tried to lean forward so she didn't fall on her face, but he was too slow and she had already hit the floor. Then he saw it. He saw that Pepper's rope was loose enough that he just needed to pick at it a bit, and it would come loose.

So he turned direction with a bit of trouble and Pepper had woken up but, luckily she knew what he was trying to do, so she didn't move away. He continued to pick at it for awhile and it came looser and looser. But he stopped and turned back to how he was when Unicorn came back in.

"They're not backing down. What do we do?" He asked.

Killer Shrike got out of his perch and stood in front of killer Shrike. "How about we ditch them? Try again some other time."

"No. Who knows what these kids heard." Unicorn added.

"Your saying to kill them?"

"Well the police didn't back off they just seem to get closer. And the red head just loves to mouth off when she's not tired."

Shrike looked as if he was thinking for a moment. "Fine. We'll go again at this with someone a little more important and we should leave a message out there."

"Good plan."

Unicorn walked out of the building again. "We warned you and you didn't listen. Well we have other plans. So good and bye.

Then he pressed the button.

…

* * *

**So its a bit short, but long all the same, but the next one _might _be longer. I havent checked yet, but yes i cut the chapter in half again. only so i don't catch up with myself and have to pause to get ahead again. i'm in a big race against myself and i will lose if i'm not careful. Luckily there is no consequence for losing. Just a brief break. So yeah, i have been a bit hesitant to put this chapter up and concidered actually restarting it from here so just tell me what you think about this chapter. Please? **


	4. Chapter 3

**So as promised in my most recent post of news on my other stories and when they were most likely going to be updated along with a tiny oneshot, here's the next chapter! ^.0 **

**I've been iffy about posting this, but thought i'd see what you think before i decide anything. So hope you like it!  
**

**Disclaimer: Iron man armored adventures does not belong to me, i don't have magic powers to will the control over to me...Though if i did, i wouldn't nearly be as good as it truly is.  
**

* * *

(Outside with police)

Roberta watched as the criminal stepped back into the building. Her heart had dropped as she heard about the bomb. She didn't want to go in there and find out that her son had been blown to pieces. Or Pepper for that matter.

"It'll be okay Roberta." Howard assured her. "They'll be alright."

"I know." She said looking to him. "You know, you didn't have to come."

"You kidding? Rhodey's like my nephew. Or even son." Howard said with a smile. "I can't lost him and my own."

Howard had become silent after the mention of his son. He looked away mumbling to himself assuring himself that he's okay, that its okay. Roberta placed her hand on his shoulder giving him the comfort he needed. He was still a bit fresh on the loss of his son. He lost his wife and now his son. It couldn't get that worse. Unless he lost all his friends and people he considers family. Then it would hit rock bottom.

They stayed like that watching the building carefully as if it would grow legs and run away with their children still in there. Roberta couldn't get her mind off of Rhodey. And she couldn't help but think of the plane crash. The similarities were horrible. If the bomb went off and killed the teens stuck as hostages or bait, it would be explode like the plane had. Most likely their wouldn't be any survivors. Though Howard had survived.

Lost in her thoughts she almost missed it as Unicorn walked out. "We warned you and you didn't listen. Well we have other plans. So good and bye."

Then he had pressed the button.

Roberta lost all her thoughts and screamed as she ran forward to the building as Unicorn ran off towards a van that was driving off.

"Roberta no!" Howard yelled jumping forward to stop her. He grabbed her arm, but she yanked it out and ran forward.

The building had started to blow up, but mainly in the back. Some police officer's saw Roberta running _to _the exploding building and almost tackled her to a stop. One officer held her around the waist, while the other was in front of her holding her shoulders talking to her in a comforting voice. She had nodded to something she had said and walked back to Howard.

She felt as if her heart was ripped out carelessly. She felt alone. Without her husband with her, she had no one to hold onto. Howard though was rubbing comforting circles into her shoulders as she quietly sobbed. Her frame shook as she fell to her knees.

Howard dropped down to Roberta's level hoping to calm her down. It reminded him how he reacted when he heard that his son was dead. Alone, empty, torn, with no one to hang onto. Tears sprang to his eyes as the memories of him and his son flooded his mind. It was horrible. He remembered flashes of blue. Something red? He had odd dreams when he was at the hospital that were red and gold. Sometimes it was blue. Just mixes of random colors. He shook his head as the wave of explosions reached them and police officers were yelling at them and the other bystanders to back off and duck.

The two police officers that held Roberta back, stood blocking any debris that wanted to crash to them. They stayed there even when the explosions stopped. They had gotten lucky that the bomb was small and only really meant to kill the hostages which really didn't make difference to how bad it was. So they really weren't hurt.

Roberta looked up and so did Howard. The two officers turned around slowly and the bystanders had backed away, but had started to walk closer. Ambulances arrived and fire trucks did as well.

Ignoring shouts that he was thrown from the police and firemen, Howard had ran into the building. Roberta stood up and looked like she wanted to go in with him, but she could only think about if she had she had gone in there and found her son, she'd never lose the image. She'd rather remember him smiling as he walked off to school.

Howard ran through the doors that busted down. It was smokey and hard to see but he made his way some how. As he ventured around looking for any sign of the two, he could've sworn he'd seen something blue. Like in his dreams. Bright blue like electricity. Then it was gone, and he saw something flying towards him.

…

* * *

(Inside just as the explosion started)

Pepper fell back as she heard the beeping of the bomb readying itself to blow. Rhodey struggled against the ropes that held him. Rhodey thought he heard his mom's voice screaming. But it was dim and soft so he couldn't be sure. He winced at every beep the bomb made. Then it was the last beep. And they were only seconds away from being blown to bits.

Pepper had one of those moments where everything freezes and time stops. She looked around at the now empty warehouse thoughts flying by her mind. The plane crash, Tony, Rhodey, her dad, Howard, her mom, school. A million pictures flashed thorough her head as the speed of light. Fire, smoke, planes, Tony, laughing, movies. Peaceful yet horrifying.

She looked away at Rhodey as the final beep past. And when it went off she squealed afraid of the pain and death to come. Her eyes now pressed shut, she couldn't feel anything. She could hardly hear anything.

Rhodey had also closed his eyes waiting for there to be nothing. But that nothing never came. A new nothing and different nothing came. It was a muffled crashing sound yet it was silent. Shaking his head he slowly opened his eyes and his eyes saw nothing but blue. It looked like it was plastic or something with mini lightning bolts running through it. He looked around and saw Pepper doing something similar to himself.

Blue. It was blue. The color of Tony's eyes. The color of electricity, the color of water, or the sky. It was beautiful. Rhodey turned his head to see what had happened. He froze as he saw a man. Not a man a robot. But surely that 'robot' was human. He was standing like a human. His arms were thrown up, but still human. The blue was coming from his hands.

"W-who are you?" He choked out. He was amazed.

The 'man's' head turned to him. "I'm...I'm a hero."

"You sure? You seem unsure of that." Pepper said.

"Look, I saved you there's nothing else to it. My name's not important."

"What's that suit made of? It looks like iron."

There was a slight pause. "Something like that."

"So your name is Iron Man." Pepper said.

"Sure. I guess that can work."

Rhodey sighed. "If you're here to save us why aren't we getting out of here."

"Just double checking that nothing with fall on us once my shield is down." 'Iron man' said.

There was a moment of silence and they all heard something sounding an awful lot like foot steps. "Hold on." Iron man said.

He shut of his shield and Pepper gasped. "It's Howard!"

"W-what!?" Iron man said.

"He's looking for us!" Rhodey said.

"You have to get him out to, before he gets himself hurt." Pepper pointed out.

"Alright..." He sounded unsure.

He picked the two teens up in his arms and started to fly off towards Howard. Pepper was screaming and Rhodey had closed his eyes. He stopped just as he got to Howard. Howard flinched away from him like he was going to crash into him, but when he realized whatever it was, wasn't going to hurt him he looked up.

"Who-?" Howard began. "Rhodey? Pepper? You're alive?"

'Iron man' set the two down and Pepper jumped up and down. "Yeah thanks to him! He had this blue shield thingy. It. Was. Awesome! He's Iron man."

Rhodey chuckled. "Yeah and thanks for saving us man."

"_Iron _man. It's iron man Rhodey!" Pepper snapped.

"I know. Sorry. Thank you _Iron _man." Rhodey corrected himself.

Howard looked from the two teens to the 'iron man'. He scanned him up and down seeing the high tech he was in. It had to have been years ahead of technology of these days. If his son was still alive, then he'd suspect that it was his son who made it. It was so high tech and that's what Tony's loved to make. Futuristic inventions. He sighed getting more and more upset about his son's death.

"I'm Howard Stark." He finally said holding his hand out.

"uh... yeah I know..." Iron man chuckled awkwardly. He hesitated as he slowly held his own hand to meet with Howard's. Hands met, they shoot it, Howard being more confident than the man that saved them. "Well lets go before the building finishes collapsing."

They began to walk forward, but their path was blocked when the ceiling fell and Iron man threw his shields up. "This is getting annoying."

"No kidding." Rhodey commented.

Once the rubble stopped falling, the shields dropped and Iron man pulled the three out of the way of remaining debris. They turned looking for a way out. Iron man walked another direction and they started to follow him, but he stopped and turned around flashing a shield over them.

"What?" Pepper exclaimed hitting the shield.

Iron man looked down then back up. "Sorry just for safety. I'm just going to look around."

He walked off leaving the three under the shield. Firemen came in after a few moments and tried to break into the shield, but the three insisted that they were fine. So they just left to assist with other matters else where. Though it did take a few minutes to convince them that they were fine.

Pepper sat down as did Rhodey. Howard was still still shocked about the similarities of the shield and his dream. The red and gold. Iron man's armor was red and gold. His shield was blue. But his dreams couldn't possibly be related to this 'Iron man'. They just can't. He never saw the man before, he never even heard of him. But the man sure knew him. And he seemed uncomfortable around all of them.

Shaking his head he looked at the two teens who were that close to death, if it wasn't for Iron man. He saved them and Roberta wouldn't need to cry.

Pepper was curious about this 'iron man'. He didn't have a name, or just didn't want to share it. It wasn't like she was asking for his secret identity. She was asking for the cover name. She also noticed how awkward he seemed to be around them. If this was the hero the villains were trying to catch then, why didn't he come sooner, like before the bomb exploded? She hugged her knees in boredom. She thought about the high tech suit he was wearing. She was no genius, but you didn't have to be to see that whoever made it, was a super genius and may have been smarter than Howard himself. Who at the moment was the smartest known person.

It was silent except for the little noise the shield made or the occasional crash from the building, or even the shouts of firemen and police officers checking on them asking them if they needed assistance getting out of the bubble like shield. Pepper just sat there thinking about the cool armor the man was wearing and his tone with them. Rhodey sat rubbing circles in the shield for when ever it was touched lightly enough, the whiter stuff in the shield that looked like lightning closed in on the touch. Howard was lost in his thoughts as he stood watching the shield with curiosity.

"Rhodey do you think he left us?" Pepper said.

"No. If he's a real hero, then he would come back." Rhodey replied looking outside of the shield.

She followed his gazed. Firemen were hosing down the building that was just hardly standing that was on fire. "But he said-"

"I don't care what he said. We don't really know him, but he said he'd be back he was just concerned for our safety."

"He just didn't sound so sure..." Pepper said looking down.

"I know he didn't, but think it has to do with who he is _under _the suit. That's why he was sounding unsure. He might know us and it might be personal, I don't know."

"You know, maybe you're right." Howard said.

Both teens looked up at him. "What?"

"Maybe whoever he is, it is personal. For all we know he knows us."

"That actually makes sense, but who do we know that's smart enough to make that kind of suit?" Rhodey asked.

"No one you need to know." A voice said.

Their heads turned to the direction of the metallic voice. There stood iron man the blue circle at his chest lighting up the dark place as the shield dropped. They all walked to him cautiously. He seemed nice, but serious.

"We don't mean to pry." Pepper said as they walked through the rubble following his light. "We're just curious. It's just that we had a friend that supposedly died, but we know that he only went missing and was suspected to be dead, and just that...he was a genius and thought-"

"I know what you thought." He interrupted her. "I think. If your thinking I'm him."

"Yeah...sorry. It's just...just that we were pretty good friends."

There was a slight pause and he had stopped walking for a second before continuing walking. "I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"N-Nothing."

Pepper raised an eyebrow and narrowed her eyes. Rhodey though was the next to say something. "Excuse me?"

Iron man's head turned his direction. "What?"

"Where exactly are we going?"

Iron man stopped. "Here."

"Why couldn't we go in one of the doors?"

"Fine go do that. Really I don't care where you go, but I was trying to find a route that was safest for you." He replied. "But if you don't want my help then, just go to the door."

"I was just asking."

"I was just saying."

Rhodey glared at him. Though his tone sounded awfully familiar. Though it also sounded like regret...? "Sorry."

"Me too."

Just as he said that he shot at the door that was sealed shut, and it busted open. Quickly, he grabbed the two teens in his arms and placed a shield over Howard. Then he flew out of the building and into the air.

"Whoa! No! Where are you taking us!?" Pepper screamed.

He stopped and just hovered there. "We need to talk."

"Yeah I've been trying to, but you've been snapping at me every time I try." She snapped.

"Sorry. I...i have no excuse. I've kinda been alone for awhile. Not used to talking to others. You should know what I mean. Well you are-were-close friends with a genius." He said.

"Hey yeah, no need to bring up a rough patch." Rhodey said trying not to look down.

"I wasn't trying to." Iron man said. He'd started to slowly make his way down. "Look, we may have gotten off on the wrong foot and you're excuse maybe that I didn't show up early enough for you, but honestly I was there the entire time. I was waiting to see what their plan was."

"What!? You were there the entire time!?"

There was a pause as they got closer to the ground. "Sorry, but you know, you're not the only one that lost someone close to you. But trust me in time it will be alright. Somethings will change."

"You seem to have had a change of heart."

"I did. I realized I wasn't being fair with you. Look I didn't really have a name to call myself, no one was really supposed to know about me, and now, well I seem to have a bit more publicity than I needed at the time. Though really I should have shown up about 8 months ago, when I was better... so that's why I didn't tell you my name. And I was unsure if I was a hero, because well the fight they heard about was someone invading my place and I defended myself, like I said wasn't supposed to be known yet, or at all... But now I think I should. New York needs a protector. Someone to keep them safe."

"And you have the ability and tech to do so." Pepper said. "Ooh! We could be your partners!"

Iron man laughed a bit. "Maybe someday."

Then he set them down by the police. He saluted the police who had rushed to the teens. Then he flew off back into the building.

…

* * *

(With Howard)

He stood in the shield alone still trying to figure out what was so special about the shield that he couldn't take his mind off of. At first he was a bit mad that he had to be stuck in it, but then dropped it when the ceiling started to collapse and he would have been killed if not for the shield above his head.

He kept thinking about it, the shield. Then the armored man. He didn't seem so sure, but he did seem a bit serious. Like he'd been through a lot and seen a lot more than he should. Maybe he did, maybe that's why he was so rough on Rhodey and Pepper, but really, Howard could say that the plane crash, and his son, was enough for him to turn rough, if he wasn't a genius. If he wasn't he'd probably turn out to be just like iron man.

His thoughts were cut off at the sound of wind and whistles. He looked up and saw through the blue shield, Iron man shutting off the shield and picking him up all while doing a u-turn in midair. They zoomed out of the building just as in collapsed some more.

They flew in an uncomfortable silence. Giving Howard more time to think about whoever this was. For all he knew it was just a really shy kid that was a genius and did his research, or loved what Howard did. Maybe he was just tough cause school or family issues.

But soon enough he was set down somewhere near the police and they ran to him shouting. As they got there, they saw that Iron man was still there just hovering there.

"Uh...you need something?" One officer asked.

"Nope."

"Thanks Iron man." Howard said.

Said man nodded and saluted again and flew off somewhere else.

…

* * *

(With Roberta)

Roberta stood there her tears running dry. She wanted to go home and lay in her bed. She wanted to call someone. Namely her husband, but she didn't want to be the one to tell him that their son was..._NO! He wasn't dead. He got out at the last minute. He didn't blow up!_

Though a little part of her mind knew it was real and there was no turning back. He was gone. He was gone just like Tony. Even though Tony, was unsure at whether or not he made it, it was just unclear.

Her son was- wait whats that?

She looked up as something shot out of the building and high into the sky. It stopped and slowly lowered down to the ground. She narrowed her eyes and saw it was red. Red and gold. It was a person. No, three people. She leaned forward rubbing her eyes slightly. The sound of voices joined the rambling of all the stuff going on down where she was.

Her heart nearly stopped when she saw him. She saw his son and he was fine. He looked more than fine. Pepper looked like she could explode of with joy. She laughed as she was set down and whoever it was that saved them saluted and flew away to the building. Roberta stopped paying him any attention and sprinted to her son.

"James!" She yelled.

He looked over and smiled as he saw his mom. She rammed him in a hug. "Oh! I though you were dead! Don't you do that to me again mister!"

"Whoa! Mom, calm down, Iron man saved us." He said to her shirt.

"Yeah! He's pretty cool when you get to know him." Pepper said.

"And how long have you known him?"

"Since Unicorn pressed the button."

"So how do you know him so well?"

"We talked. Oh and he's a genius that lost someone close to him. He doesn't have much contact with humans and he wasn't supposed to be known yet, but he was supposed to be known 8 months ago." Pepper said in one breath.

Rhodey chuckled and shook his head. he may not have been a big fan of Iron man, but he sounded pretty hurt when he said that they weren't the only ones that lost someone close to them. He seemed to really mean it. Though, what did he mean by things will change? Was that just hopes that things will, did he mean it personally, or was that just saying that New York was going to change?

He looked up as he heard the same sounds as the suit flying and saw Iron man flying to them with Howard in his arms. Seconds later, he landed. A lot faster than he had with Pepper and Rhodey. He had paused for a second before saluting and flying away.

Howard made his way to the others. Roberta smiled as she saw him and glad that he didn't die trying to find her son. "Wow that was quite an adventure." He said as he approached the group.

"Sure was." Rhodey commented.

"Amazing." Pepper said eying the sky as if hoping that she'd see iron man.

"Sounds like it." Roberta said looking around at the three. "So he saved you guys?"

They all nodded. Pepper laughed as well. "Yeah, he's a hero. He said he was going to get into that business. He's going to protect New York."

Rhodey yawned. "I'm tired. Mom, do I have to go to school?"

She shook her head. "Of course not. I want you to get some sleep, and Pepper I'd advise you to do the same."

"Hey where's my dad? Did he know about this?" Pepper said looking around.

"He went in after the explosion. He'll be okay, some firemen left to go get him out moments before you two showed." Roberta answered.

Just as that was said her dad walked up to them. "Yep. Turns out, I wasn't needed. But Pepper, I'm soo glad your okay." He walked to her and squeezed her in a hug.

"Iron man saved us! He's a new hero! The one they were baiting in! Turns out he was there the entire time spying, but I don't care. He saved us just before we were blown up!" She yelped.

Rhodey only shook his head. He knew she was a bit crazy, but she just seemed to be overreacting. Though at the moment, he didn't care. He only wanted to know who Iron man was. What did he mean by maybe one day? Would he really let them help him? Or was that just kid talk, like talking to little kids who have an active imagination?

He looked into the sky wondering just who it was that could have made that suit.

* * *

**So it is long so yay! And how'd it go? There was so many things that could have happened, and i know some of you either know it already or just are suspicious... never mind...i'm shutting up... -.- **

**I've said this once, but most of you probably havent read it... but everything beyond this chapter was deleted... :( Now i have to redo a TON! Like seriously i had about three long chapters about 18 to 22 pages long, (i think...) That was even able to be split into 6 chapters! ALL OF IT GONE! Now i'm ticked because i had worked on that ALL summer long and even into the last school year! So i've been updating things as much as i can so i can allow myself time to work further on this... though the only good thing that came into it, was that i can change a part of the story line i hadn't liked...  
**

**So i'll stop ranting...Please review and now you can give me ideas if you'd like since its open. For now...  
**


	5. Chapter 4

**So this took a bit longer than i though, but finally its here, and its a bit short, but at least it got updated. I got a bit blocked at some point cause i couldn't remember much of what i had happen in the same chapter that got deleted so instead of taking more time to figure it out i read the reviews again, and you guys are saying its obvious that its Tony...duh...but I was doing it for plot reasons, and now, i've sorta brought us to an 'agreement'. You'll see what i mean by this as you read on.  
**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing nor will i ever.  
**

* * *

(3 months later)

It was three months after the whole kidnapping went down. Iron man was true to his word when he said he was going to protect New York. He had made quite a few appearances. He flew around town a few times actually on watch. Rhodey and Pepper had actually saw him a few times. The biggest thing he had, or the most public rescue he made, was when Howard Stark was kidnapped by the same people. But he was rescued before any real damage could be done. His name was officially Iron man, and people cheered when they saw him, and reporters constantly tried to get video feeds of him.

He was pretty good at out flying the helicopters. No one knew where he came from or who he was, but they were proud of him. Crime slowed, but more criminals showed up thinking they held a challenge to Iron man. Though they were quickly destroyed.

Another problem had to do with Howard. Someone hacked into his back account and was using quite a bit of money. Though that was going on for months. But it was just odd. Money kept disappearing, but his bank account didn't take it as hacking really it thought it was him taking the money, so whoever it was knew the credit numbers. And password. He knew Tony knew, but Tony was dead. Or they thought he was, but it was almost solid that he was dead. So he just needed to find out where his money was going. Though really it wasn't a big problem, because when he looked to see what it was that was being bought it was metals, and tools. And he just earned the replacement money later on.

It was a Friday and at the moment Rhodey was walking slowly home from school. It was the middle of winter so it was pretty cold. He had a heavy sweater on with a gray cap. Pepper had caught a cold so she stayed home from school. He saw the flash of red as iron man flew on his daily watch.

At first he didn't really like Iron man. At the incident only three months ago, when he first met Iron man, he might as well say he hated him. The tone he had used with Pepper when she had tried talking to him, was just plain rude. He didn't seem to even care that he saved the two, though later on he proved that he actually did care, he just didn't know how to show it. He even admitted a few things Rhodey was almost positive no one knew about him. Though even then he didn't really like him. He didn't really have a reason to though, everybody loved the guy. But they didn't know him from personal experiences.

But now, as he thought back, the guy tried. He circled the city almost daily with the exception of some nights. He saved multiple celebrities, which tons of people wouldn't be able to do. Then there was his own insane ability to solve anything. He was able to find someone that the police and FBI couldn't find in years, in just a matter of days or hours. He even had Rhodey wishing that he could find someone for him. Tony. So far that was his main mission. Though he didn't really have a lot of missions. Just homework.

His mission was to find out what had happened to Tony. He'd find out the truth. If Tony died or if he lived. He wasn't about to give up. He would set up posters, check in with the police about the results of the search parties that still were going out. Though now it was monthly and not as thorough. The police and FBI and any other search party involved had pretty much given up. They figured he was dead. Everyone thought he was dead. After a year, they stopped putting, "Teen genius gone missing" in the newspaper. They had soon put up newspapers and televised news broadcasts saying, "Teen Genius accounted dead, no longer missing." Though Rhodey knew that was a lie. The police still checked in with Howard, who checked in with the Rhodes, after each search. Daily searches turned to weekly searches, turned to monthly searches, and sooner or later it was going to be yearly.

They've tried calling suspected people, questioning them, but come up empty. They've tried posters, websites, even checking recently foreclosed houses, buildings, and lots. They've even requested governmental help, though that isn't nearly as often as the New York area police.

As much as they looked, they had no leads. They couldn't progress on anything without leads and if they couldn't progress they couldn't find Tony or what had happened to him. They've just about given up, but Rhodey wasn't about to. He just needed a way to find him. Get his own leads. So far he knew of one person that could possibly know how to find him.

Iron man.

…

(3 weeks later.)

Pepper had gotten better, but the weather in New York only got worse. So they stopped walking to school and had started to take the cabs that were in the streets. They watched the skies like they had been doing almost for two weeks.

There wasn't any sign of Iron man. He didn't fly by at the time he usually did, he didn't even show up on the news and wasn't there when there was a pretty violent attack on New York. Police and squad got lucky, but there's not telling if they could handle something like that again. He hadn't been seen for two weeks. Rhodey may not be the biggest fan of Iron man, there was no doubting that he had good intentions. That he tried. There was no doubt that without him he wouldn't be alive along with many others.

So he was worried about what was going on. Sure they didn't know iron man for long, but it was undoubtedly true that he was on their side. He put his life on the line for random citizens. So when he doesn't show up one day, its no big deal, and neither is the second day and even the third day. Though by the fourth day everyone starts to worry and wonder if it should be safe to presume that something bad happened. Five to six days it was even more stressing and it was even mentioned in Newspapers. When it had gotten to two weeks its on TV. So when they get attacked they get desperate for Iron man to appear. Then he doesn't and New York almost falls into the hands of some very dangerous villains and more people begin to worry and are visibly uneasy.

It may have been a simple two weeks, but when you were used to seeing him every day or every other, its hard to get used to simple fact that maybe he just left town. It was instantly thought of as a crisis. Not in the literal terms, some took it harder than others. Some, the disappearance made them very uneasy and feeling unsafe and vulnerable. Others it wasn't like they didn't care that they weren't guarded, it was either that they didn't believe that iron man was human, and was just programmed by a human, or it was that they figured he wasn't needed. They were the strong believers that police had everything under control. Unless they were criminals...then it would be safe to say that they were glad iron man wasn't there. It would be tons easier to get what they want and get away with it.

It would also be safe to say that Pepper, was the most worried. She found her latest obsession and she was sticking to this one pretty well, second to Tony and some special forces deal. She as some could say iron mans biggest 'fan' and when he goes missing he's all of a sudden the subjects shes always talking about.

So it being yet another Friday, relieved them that they didn't have school the next day. Though they had other things to worry about. In almost one week, it would be the two year anniversary of the plane crash then only a few days later, the anniversary of the day Tony went missing. It wasn't going to be a fun week for them.

This Friday the two teens were walking home from school with silence. They didn't talk nor did they laugh. They just listened to other peoples voices and other peoples laughs. They watched the skies for signs of the hero.

Pepper called her father telling him that she was going to hang out with Rhodey again that evening. Rhodey knew his mom was out doing some big case out of town and Howard was getting busier and busier. So the two teens found it a bit hard to busy themselves, even though half the things they did wasn't with the two adults.

It wasn't until they got home and finished some homework that something actually interesting happened. As Rhodey held the remote and was flipping through the channels, just as he hit a news channel he changed it, but not before he read part of the news title, Tony Stark... then it was something else. So he instantly flipped the channel back.

_Claims from multiple people that they saw Tony Stark. _

That was the title. Pepper who was doodling on a notebook looked up from her drawing to the screen when she saw Rhodey from the corner of her eye lean forward and make a gasp that was hardly heard. But she heard it and had looked up to see what was on TV that could interest Rhodey this much. When she did, she felt the blood leave her head as she paled and she felt nauseous.

Above the title words for the news story, was an old picture of Tony who was smiling in the corner and as it went away the screen went to two people. One was a woman who looked like she was in her early 20's, she had brown hair with very dark eyes and a man near her age had his arm slung around her shoulders his red cap made it close to impossible to see what color hair he had, but when he turned to look some where the teens noticed he had pitch black hair.

A reporter with black hair having a sort of 'wild' look to her stood not to far away from the TV couple. "_So you guys reported that you've seen Tony Stark? The same Tony Stark that was suspected to be dead for almost a year now?_"

The woman nodded. "_That is right._"

"_Where did you see him?_"

This time it was the man that replied. "_We were at a park a few miles out of the city, it was our final date before our marriage, when we saw him._"

"_Do you know what he was doing?_"

There was a pause and the two shared a look. The woman bite her lip as did the man. "June_ here, she was closest, I saw him, I'm almost positive that it was Tony. Though she'd have a better view._"

'June' nodded. "_I don't know what he was doing exactly, but he was limping...not like 'oh my leg is sore' more like a 'hey I broke my leg' kind of way. I didn't really see his face fully, but he had his head ducked and as he walked by me, I saw the same crystal blue eyes as this,_" Her voice was soft but clear as she pulled something out of her fiance's backpack.

It was a magazine that was crumpled up and a bit torn. She held it up just enough for the cameras to get view of it and it was Tony. He was with his father who stood side by side with Obadiah. After a moment it was put away and it was a moment of silence.

"_So you're positive that it was Tony Stark?_" The reporter questioned.

The two nodded their heads vigorously as if they had a sudden sugar rush. "_There's no questioning it._"

The screen left the couple and back to regular news saying that there has been more of an opening on the search for the now suspected 'missing' Tony Stark.

Before the news could finish, Rhodey shut the TV off and slowly turned his head to face Pepper who looked just on the brink of tears. "Pepper."

She didn't answer.

"Pepper." He repeated.

Her head slowly turned to face Rhodey. "He's...alive..." She said in shaky mono toned voice. "What if..."

She shook her head, clearing her head of the thought. He would've told them...but why didn't he...?

* * *

**O.o okay so how did i do? Was it good? And as a heads up to you guys, there might be a lot more news, scenes, (don't ask, i just find that interesting...lol) **

**So i was going to have it be Rhodey that figured it out first, but i gave him his glory of finding out about the crash and the missing part first, and i thought having Pepper figure it out first would add strongly to the Pepperony of the story. But yeah, Tony does show up more on this chapter, and that will be happening every so often now, as a warning though, lots of things will be out of character, but its just the plot really.  
**

**I was writing something in school today in my free time, cause i was thinking about a book i'm rereading, which is Clockwork Prince, by Cassandra Clare. (Awesome book, I strongly recommend it,) then i was thinking back to the book before that, the first one, Clockwork Angel, and i was getting frustrated with the love story in it. Its Great really, but its the fact that she fell in love with two people, and that just makes you choose a side, and i'm upset about whats going to be in the third book cause right now she's with the person i think she should stay with, but that just worries me that something will happen and they'll break up... argh! ANYWAYS...my point is i was looking up cool names and came up with a few names. or found a few.  
**

**Evelyn Bree Edith, and Isaac Flynn Serge, were the names. I've completely fell in love with the names. I'm just saying that cause, i was thinking about creating a story where Pepper befriends two people with there own love story, who claims that they can help them with a problem if Pepper and Tony help them with their problem. So what would you say to that idea. Don't worry it wouldnt cut into the other stories time cause i'd be writing it in a notebook or my kindle when i can't be updating my old stories. Just something to keep me busy, but i want to know how many of you would be interested. So tell me?  
**

**Also again if you have an idea for _this _story, go ahead and share them. I have my own ideas, but the more the better. I want more options...but if you don't i understand. Okay...one last thing before i go, i want to know do you guys think i talk to much in my Authors notes? Cause sometimes i wonder if you guys even read them... Well review, tell me what you think, and i'm going to try to update Fighting til the end or Baby genius next...hopefully soon if i get the time. Today my mom had her friend over and footballs on TV. So now, Bye!  
**


	6. Chapter 5

**So here it is! Heres the chapter some of you have been looking for! I hope, cause i worked hard on this. If you ask me why i chose to do this, don't ask. I don't know... i guess it was just something that came to mind to me...But Yeah, thats all i got to say right now.**

**Disclaimer: Iron man armored adventures is not owned by me, but by marvel or Nicktoons.  
**

Pepper shot out of her seat instantly. She didn't know if she should feel happy or upset. Angry or depressed. Her feelings were just a jumbled ball of confusion and hope. She didn't know what to think either. She couldn't figure out if she was thinking that there was a chance, or that this was all just a huge white lie.

She was out the door before Rhodey could ask what was going on or what she was thinking. She had her bag across her shoulder and her hair flew wildly in the wind. She paid no attention to the annoying loose hairs that got caught in her mouth. She just ran as fast as she could to a taxi that was passing by. She waved her arm frantically to get the drivers attention.

"Taxi!" She shouted she wrapped her arms around herself, shivering. It was still cold out.

She saw through the dark tinted windows that the driver looked in her direction and pulled the taxi cab over. The window rolled down to see a young dark haired man. "Miss, you need something?"

"Um, yeah, I need a ride to central park."

"Okay, hop on in." He said as she removed her bag from her shoulder and hopped in as told.

Through the entire drive, she was bouncing her leg as if impatient. She had noticed the driver had looked back at her worriedly. She didn't blame him. Her face was set in a dead frown and confusion. Her leg bouncing and her fingers tapping the hard leather door. She was biting her lip all while looking up out the window as if suspecting that she would see _him. _She him flying around in the skies.

She didn't know why she ran out on Rhodey like she did. She could've included him in a little of what was going on in her head, but then again, what was going on in her head? She knew one thing and one thing only that the fact that Tony was alive and spotted was definitely flying around in her head. In fact it was the thing that distracted her when the was a sudden shout.

"Hold on to something!" The driver yelled.

She blinked not sure what was going on. So instead of asking questions like she felt like doing, she grabbing onto the door handle and the handle that's always on the roof of a car. Then she took a moment to look around out the window to see what she was holding on for. There it was. They were on a slightly less busy road, but there was still lots of cars out. And most of the cars were fast enough to get out of the way, but the taxi wasn't. In fact there was a few taxis that wasn't fast enough.

Not fast enough to get out of the way of a sliding semi-truck. She wanted to know what happened in the first place to tip a semi-truck and cause it to slide that fast. Though before she even got one theory in her mind, she saw it as if in slow motion as the sliding semi-truck crashed into the taxi she was riding in on the left side. The side both her and the driver were on. She screamed just as it hit.

She felt as if her bones had tried to leap out of her body. They rattled and shook. Her teeth smashed together and she was amazed how they hadn't fallen out. She felt a sharp and sudden pain on her head and her shoulder. Her seat-belt dug into her skin. Her eyes that had closed opened to see that the Taxi had spun circles and hit other cars before crashing into a building, the car half flipped.

"Ma'am," A voice said. "You alright?"

She frowned deeper than she already was. She didn't want to be called Ma'am. Especially in a situation like this. But instead she only eyed the driver curiously. He seemed nicer than most drivers...

"Are you alright?" the voice asked again. It wasn't the driver.

She blinked and narrowed her eyes. What the...? She moved to rub her head that was sore and aching, but sucked in a sharp breath as she touched a sore spot. What? She moved her hand back to see it come back slightly covered in blood.

From a distance she heard a new voice, "Excuse me, I need to see her." It was so familiar. Then the voice was closer. "Pep, oh no..." _Pep?_ "You need to get help..." She wanted to turn her head to see who it was that was so familiar, but her ears were ringing and her vision was dropping. Her head hurt to much to move.

She faintly felt someone touch her shoulder and her hip. Oh right, she had a seat belt on. Her eyes were drooped and she heard more voices, but one was more clear than the others. "I've got you, don't worry."

A pair of arms was around her like a hug, tugging her out of the slanted car. She could see the driver being pulled out as well. She wrapped her arms securely around the person lifting her up as she was completely lifted out. She was set on the ground and she caught sight of a red shirt. Her heart jumped, but she hadn't realized she was falling over until the same person caught her.

As she fell into a very dreamy state, she felt the ground falling from under her feet and she realized someone picked her up and was cradling her bridal style. She smelt a familiar smell and smiled softly as darkness finished enveloping around her.

"Pep..."

…

He continued to stumble around the streets of New York. He didn't stop to take a break, to eat, to drink, or to rest. He didn't pause to take in the scenery of a beautiful park. He didn't even stop to say hi to anyone. He just aimlessly walked around New York. He missed it. Missed the fun. He missed a ton of things.

When he saw someone crossing a street. Not a busy one, but busy enough. It wasn't even at a cross walk. His heart dropped as he saw a semi-truck driving by not seeing the person crossing. He was about to run, or speed limp, to push the man out of the way, but someone beat him to it.

The semi, driver finally saw what was happening and tried to stop and turn away, but instead, flipped and slid hitting a couple taxis and cars. That's when he heard it. The scream. He painfully spun around to the source of the scream. It was a taxi. Of course, it was crashing into the oncoming semi-truck.

The sound of it was just so familiar, he couldn't help but think it was her. He found the taxi once it stopped its spinning. He looked over a few peoples shoulder. He saw the red-hair and that was all he needed to see. It really was her. He found her...

…

_Pepper felt a hand on top of her own. She couldn't place why it was so familiar. It was soft and warm. She wanted to open her eyes. She wanted to see who it was that was holding her hand. Though she stayed under a thick blanket of darkness. _

_Her eyelids were heavy and she felt...odd. Like she was floating. She felt as if her mouth and eyes were glued shut and her ears felt plugged, yet she could hear..._

"_I'm sorry..." It was patches so not really completely heard. "and all that." And all what? What did he say? "I'm sorry about that..." Sorry about what? "I should've..." the pauses just happened at the weirdest of times... "Its just that I couldn't..." Now it was just plain confusing. What on earth was he saying? Who was he anyways? "I know you think that-" _

_She could feel herself fall back into a more suitable sleep. Into a thicker blanket of darkness. She wanted to fight free of the invisible bonds keeping her silent. Keeping her under the covers and in the dark. She wanted to be free. Free of the confusion and thickness. Free of the darkness that continued to take over again. _

"_Pep..." Pause. "Love you..." Pause. "(sigh) Wake up..." _

_She tried. She really did. But it was hard. It was too hard. It wasn't long til that something keeping her in the dark, finished dragging her under. Until there was nothing..._

…

She woke up to a bright flash in her eyes. She closed her eyes and opened them again to be sure it wasn't just her imagination that a light was flying around her face. When she did, she realized that there was a flashlight being shown in her pupils. She moved to hit it away, annoyed. It went away, but there was a hand on hers. It was so familiar. She looked over.

"Rhodey?" She asked.

Now she was confused. Was that all just a dream? Did she just imagine the whole thing. Was she really with someone? She could've swore it was real. She even suspected that it was Tony. But why would Tony tell her all that. Not that she heard all of it. But still didn't he say he loved her? Maybe he said it and she missed the part that he loves her like a friend. Was that even Tony?

"Pepper. I thought you'd never wake up." Rhodey said.

She faked a smile. "Yeah...and I didn't think you cared all that much."

"Why would you think that?"

"Cause according to you, I'm a bit on the crazy side." She said not really faking the smile anymore.

Rhodey laughed. "Yeah, but that's what everyone loves about you."

Was that what her imaginative Tony was saying? That he loved her for her craziness? It had to be something like that...

"Oh..."

"Is something wrong?" Rhodey asked looking worriedly at his friend as a doctor looked at her more closely. "I mean aside the car crash?"

She shook her head then winced. "Careful dear, Don't want to hurt that head injury of yours."

She looked over to the nurse that spoke to her. She had red hair just like herself, but it was more of a velvet red instead of fiery orange-red. She had pink nurse scrubs on and had purple anti-bacterial gloves on as she randomly started to poke around in her mouth.

"Sorry, a doctor said to feel around for something, which I...cannot find." The nurse said. "Oh, I'm Janelle." She said throwing her gloves away.

"Can I ask you something?" Pepper asked.

"Sure, ask away!"

"Do you know who brought me here? He was so...familiar..."

The nurse had an odd look, like she was bugged about something. "No, I wasn't here when you came in. I was called in when the hospital got busy. And that was only yesterday!"

"Yesterday?"

"Yep, you were out like a light for a little over 24 hours, dear." Janelle said removing a bandage on Peppers head.

Pepper closed her eyes heading into deep thought. It didn't look much darker than when she left Rhodey in her cloud of dust, so that must mean that she was 'out like a light' for 24 hours. Though she needed to know who it was that brought her there. Who was talking to her. Surely that was real. Not fake. It couldn't have been a dream. It was too real.

She was pretty sure she already knew who it was, but she wasn't going to take her own word for this one. The only thing she was absolutely positive about, was the fact that someone carried her that was familiar.

"You alright dear?"

She opened her eyes. "Yeah, I just cant figure out who brought me here...he was so familiar, I swear I know who it is...but-"

"You're afraid to think wrong." Janelle finished.

"Something like that." Pepper said looking to the ceiling.

"I'm gonna go tell the doctor you're awake." Janelle said, smiling. "He'll be here in a few minutes."

Rhodey told her everything he knew for her. He told her that he tried calling her a few times, but she didn't answer. He went to her house wondering what she was doing, and ended up finding her dad rushing out the door having received a phone call. Rhodey asked what was going on and when he heard what happened, he got a ride from Virgil and together they went to the hospital.

The story ended just as someone entered the room just as Janelle had said. It was the doctor. "Good to see you awake, Ms. Potts."

She smiled. "Glad to be awake."

The doctor laughed. "I'm Dr. Pike."

They talked a bit and he gave her pain meds when her head hurt and a cup of water. He checked her head injury and estimated that she would be out of the hospital within days. Less even. It wasn't really bad, but they told her she dislocated her shoulder bone and tore a muscle close to the hip and her head injury was still questioned if it would cause any permanent damage.

She was left alone with Rhodey who she shared what she knew. Or thought... She told him that she knew Tony was alive. She told him she was pretty sure that he was the one that brought her there. She told him everything that she thought. All her theories, until she tired herself out enough to fall asleep in the middle of a sentence her last though was of her best friend, Tony.

**Any good? Need anything fixed? I hope i did good. So i hope to update Victims vs Suspects next. So be expecting.I don't have much to say to this chapter, but i hope you enjoyed it, so bye!  
**


	7. Chapter 6

**So I'm BAAAACK! Finally! I thought i'd update this first since i had promised in my last update (so long ago) that i'd update this or Victims vs. Suspects, i think... And i've been thinking about how i'd do this chapter for a while, and finally came up with a short chapter for you...I know, i should be ashamed to have made it so, short, but i literally just wanted to get this part down and nothing else. So its purposely this short, sorta...  
**

**IMPORTANT A/N(Ramble): I am SOOOO SORRY for being gone for so long! As some of you know, i lost internet on 10/17. We were supposed to get it back the following Wednesday, but turns out rats and construction workers destroyed the phone and internet lines...so we couldn't use them so we had to wait 3 weeks for internet! Before we got internet by cable, so we didn't use the phone line and internet lines. Now with a different company supplying us with phone and internet, we needed the phone lines, which were destroyed. Yesterday they came with a giant digging/ground saw machine and cut lines to the phone lines and fixed it all up! And I've been trying to catch up with my reading and writing...  
**

**I also just realized something, and that is that it wasn't winter when the plane crashed in or out of the story-.-...so just use you imagination and just imagine that it was..Thanks! ^.0 **

Pepper was released from the hospital late that Saturday night. Rhodey had gone home not much earlier. She had a some what easy rest that night. She was a bit restless, but after running around to tire herself out, she was in her pj's curling up in her bed. Though she had to get back up to get some pain meds for her head and body.

She was soon all cuddled up under her covers ready to pass out. As soon as her eyes closed she was already drifting off into an uneasy rest.

…

_She opened her eyes to an open window. It was still dark, like pitch black. She narrowed her eyes, curious as to why the window was open when she was positive that she had closed it. She got out of her bed to get a good look out the window. The carpet felt cold against her bare feet and there was a chilly breeze. _

_She leaned against the windowsill and looked out as a wind blew through her hair. She shivered. It was cold out. Though it was obvious for it was the middle of winter. Though the streets were silent. In fact, they were empty, there was nothing outside. Nothing showing life. Then as her eyes scanned the streets she saw something. It was a pair of shoes. Just shoes. No one wearing them either._

_Pushing her arms through the nearest sweater, she zoomed out her door. She ran down stairs only to find her father not where he was before he fell asleep. She frowned and ran to his room then to his office. He wasn't there. She assumed he was called in and forgot to leave a note. _

_So she headed to the front door to find it cracked open. She quickly got a flashlight from a drawer nearby and walked out the door. To find the streets and sidewalks completely deserted. She walked forward more and stopped when she heard a sound. _

_It was footsteps. She didn't even bother to turn around when the footsteps stopped right behind her. Though when there was silence and not even the sound of breathing, she turned around. But there was nothing there. It was just the wind. _

_She sighed in relief and turned around before screaming and falling backwards, now supporting herself up by the elbows. "What?"_

_When she had turned around she almost slammed in to someone. Not only someone, but Tony. His eyes though, they were still blue, but they were hallow, glassy. His lips parted ever so slightly, his skin pale as paper. He was just...standing there. Staring. _

"_Tony?" She asked. _

_He didn't move. _

_She stood up and flashed her flashlight around. None of the houses nearby had any lights on. The street lights and store lights were all shut off except the two surrounding her and Tony. Her light jerked and shot sparks and shut off, she dropped it. _

_She felt a strong wind blow, but she felt it straight across her legs as if they were bear. Her arms as well. She looked down and almost fell back again. She wore a white lace night gown. It looked far to fancy to sleep in, yet it looked like it was comfortable to actually sleep in. _

_The wind stopped. It just...left. She looked to Tony who was now oddly, wearing a pair of jogging pants. And jogging pants alone. She stared. His chest. She never really had a chance to see it without it being gauzed up, the heart implant, not his chest. She walked slowly over to him forgetting what was happening and lightly touched the heart implant. _

_It was warm and she could almost feel the heartbeat that Tony's actual heart gave off. _Almost. _Though, she couldn't. _

_Then there was a loud clashing sound like thunder and the wind returned like mad. It was throwing around news papers, and yard décor smashing some windows causing glass to fly around in the wind as well. The ground shook and she turned around facing away from Tony. Then she spun around._

"_Tony! Whats happening?" She shouted over the thunderous booms. _

_He didn't answer and she tried slapping him. Then he just started to look nothing but confused. The ground shook stronger and it started to crack and the earth gave a sudden jerk and both her and Tony were waving their arms to keep balance. Only to lose their balance and fall on their bottoms. She moved closer to Tony, who still looked more than confused. _

_She just found herself falling deep down into a pit and looking up to Tony looking down the hole with shock and again, confusion. She screamed and desperately trying to stop the falling, only to find nothing._

…

Pepper gasped and shot up in her bed. She wiped the beads of sweat building up on her forehead. Then she looked around and felt the chilling breeze flow through her room. She looked to the window to see it open again.

She cautiously moved to look out the window to see if it was like her dream. She could've fainted in relief. The streets were busy with cars and sidewalks had all the night owls roaming their surface.

She was about to turn around when there was a loud bang and she was tackled to the side. She screamed, only to have a hand slapped over her mouth. She struggled at first until she recognized something. The smell. Her heart started to race and she smiled against _his _hand.

"Shh," He said. "They'll hear you."

The hand was slowly removed as if afraid she'd scream.

"We gotta move." He said grabbing her hand and holding onto it tightly as if never to let go.

She looked up and from the light shining through her window, she was just able to see _his _features.

"_Tony?_" She breathed.

**Cliffhanger! Heehee! Sorry, i just had to! :P But yeah i hope you see why i left it short...I literally just wanted the dream part in it, so i tried to be as detailed as possible, (which i failed at) But i _tried! _**

**I'm sooo close to affording a good computer, and then i can update a ton faster! Hopefully, but i don't think it will be until Christmas...But i'll be fine as long as i don't lost internet like that again! But for now, deal with slow updates and just be glad i can update again! :)  
**


	8. Chapter 7

**So, i'm sorry for being gone for so long, (again) but i have two pretty good reasons. Reason 1: I wanted to be able to update multiple stories, which i successfully got two stories ready to be updated This one and one other. I was going to wait until later when i had more than just the two, but this is where the other reason comes in. **

**My great grandma passed away on 12/19, and i really miss her...:(. And because of this we are more busy than we originally were. A visitation is on Wednesday, a funeral or burial, i believe on the following Saturday, This Sunday were going way out of Town for Christmas, then on Christmas Eve, were going out of town again, then twice more on Christmas day. So BUSY Bees we are! And decpite the loss, i still feel like i should update something before Christmas since i won't be able to on Christmas. This and the above paragraph will be posted on the other story, so just ignore it if you read both.  
**

**So now you know why i've been gone, so yeah. And i'm pretty sure you guys will understand me. And with no further comment, ENJOY!  
**

**Oh and i do not own a THING! IMAA belongs to Nicktoons, or Marvel, or whatever. NOT ME!  
**

"_Tony?" She breathed._

…

She blinked away some of the tears that started to well up in her eyes. She felt as if she was just punched in the stomach and now she couldn't breathe. She was left speechless until she was able to catch some breath and as she did, she lunged herself forward squeezing Tony in a hug.

She waited for him to hug her back, but he never did. Instead she felt him stiffen under her. With a frown, she unwillingly pulled herself back from Tony and eyed him suspiciously.

"What are you doing here?" She whispered. "Not that I don't mind-but seriously. Did you come in through the window? Was that a _gun _shot? Were they aiming at me? Or at you? Tony talk-"

His hand was over her mouth again and he shushed her. He tugged her out of her room and moved his hand in front of her chest to keep her from going ahead of him. He was holding her hand still and she was wondering if it was intentional or not. Before she could speculate anymore, he was moving again and quickly. She could feel him limp as well as see him.

They stopped just short of going down the stairs and she started to pick up on what he was doing. He was looking for someone. Well maybe just being on the look out for someone, cause she figured he thought that the person who shot at her, him...them...might have decided to come in and finish what they started.

She also noticed he was keeping in front of her and going first down the stairs. He was acting as a shield. Seemed like something he would do. If she was right and her suspicion that he was iron man was right, this is what he's doing. He's being iron man. Just outside the armor.

They reached the door when she froze. She couldn't believe she forgot. "I can't."

He turned around and his face was just lividly shocked. "Why not?"

His voice was raspy, but soft. She shook her head trying not to forget why she stopped. "My dad..."

Tony's hand tightened as he smiled his crooked smile. "Left already, he sorta woke up when I came..."

Biting her lip, she motioned for him to move forward. She wanted to know why he was there and why the people were shooting at her or him, or them...it was confusing. There was so many questions she wanted to ask. But she knew they would have to wait. At least until they were safe and free from what ever it was that was happening. Then when they were safely out, she could ask away, with only the hope that he would actually answer her questions. Though, at this point she seriously doubted it.

"Go out the back door there," Tony started in a whisper. "I'll be right with you."

"Come with me." She whispered. She didn't want to go alone. "Please."

"They're not back there. Their upstairs and in the front by now." Tony said trying to reassure her.

"No, I won't. We thought we lost you. _I _thought I lost you." She said pulling at his arm in the direction of the back door. "Come."

There was a loud smashing sound from upstairs and a shout. She looked to Tony asking him with her eyes to come with her. But he wasn't looking at her. He was looking towards where they came from with a worried glance. She tugged at his arm refusing to go alone.

"Pep," Tony said finally looking to her.

She stood still as more shouts rang through the house. "What?"

"Please." He said in a pleading tone. "I'll be right with you."

"Promise?" She asked. She wished she didn't sound so weak.

His hands moved from her hands or his side and were quickly on her cheeks and he kissed her forehead lightly. "Promise."

With a light blush, she tiredly made her way to her back door. She turned one last time to look at Tony who was waving at her encouragingly. The pit in her stomach made her regret believing his promise. He didn't look like he was going to be right with her. With a shake of her head she waved back and walked out the back door.

…

_The man paced around the dark room with a shallow frown. His men failed. More particularly, his commander failed again. How does his most likely to precede him, fail? He was furious, when he returns, he will pay for his failure. His commander and his team let a simple teen escape his clutches. They let him escape and they hardly got anything they needed. They didn't get a single thing done, yet they were so close. That close to figuring it out. _

"_Sir," His general spoke. "The Commander is here."_

_The man stopped his pacing. "Bring him in." _

"_Yes, sir." _

_The general left the room quickly. The man was seriously considering giving him the commander position instead. At least he listened to what he was told. He got the job done. _

"_Sir, you requested to see me." A nervous voice sounded. _

_The man turned around. "I did. So tell me, _Commander,_ why did you fail? Why did you fail me again?"_

"_I-I'm sorry sir, I won't do it again..." _

"_I did not ask you not to do it again," The man said slowly and menacingly. "I asked you why _did _you fail me again?"_

_There was a pause. "I wasn't smart enough...sir." _

"_So, you're telling me, that a teen out smarted you, again?" _

"_Um, y-yes sir, h-he's a genius after all.." _

_The man sighed and turned around, closing his eyes. "You are dismissed."_

"_B-but-"_

"_NO Buts!" The man snapped. "General!"_

_The door opened. "Yes sir?"_

"_Prepare the teams for a dismissal, Commander here is to be dismissed."_

"_Yes sir." General said with a bow and stepping out of the room already yelling the commands from their leader. _

"_Commander, you are excused to ready yourself." The man said. "I have other plans." _

_The pale Commander nodded and bowed for the last time to his once leader and left the room listening to the mans laughter. _

…

Pepper despite Tony telling her it was safe back here, felt the need to hide. So she hid under the small deck where there was a hole in the side of it. She listened for signs of people, mainly Tony, coming towards her. Though she heard nothing. There was a few loud smashing sounds. Though she couldn't tell what they were. She wanted to go and see if Tony was alright, but she knew it wasn't the smart thing to do.

"Come on Tony," She whispered to herself as if that would help.

She wished she had her phone. She wished she could call Rhodey, Howard, or probably the police, but she didn't have a phone, and she didn't know exactly what to say even if she did have a phone on her. How was she supposed to say that Tony Stark was at her house? No one would believe her. They wouldn't believe her. They wouldn't even think twice before calling her crazy.

"Pep?" A voice whispered.

She jumped from the sudden noise. "Tony?"

"Where are you?" His voice was louder this time.

"Oh one sec..." She said as she crawled out of her hiding place.

"Hiding."

She saw Tony laugh lightly, but he was quick to stop. She looked closer to see his lip was split and she was instantly curious to know what happened. It was obvious someone hit him there with something, but with what, she didn't know. She wanted to asked, but like last time, he grabbed her hand and pulled her behind him and started to run off in some other direction. She didn't pay attention to where he was dragging her, but she didn't care. She had so many questions she wanted to ask him. So many things she needed to know.

Like: _Where'd you go? Are you okay? Who were they? What just happened?_ Many more questions filled her mind, but she couldn't bring herself to ask them. She didn't really know if it was appropriate to ask them at this time. Maybe when they get to the place Tony was dragging her to. Maybe he was going to explain everything when they got there.

A flash of light broke through her thoughts and she looked over. So did Tony. So this wasn't what he was expecting. Though, what was he expecting? When she looked over it was a group of teens of about 15 years old. There was about five of them and three of them had their phones out and one of them had their camera out. Though two of them were just standing back.

Some of them laughed and started to gossip to one another and Tony's face was more pale than Pepper remembered from earlier.

"Hey!" She said. The group of teens quieted down and looked at her. "Stop it!"

"Why?" The tall boy said.

"Cause he doesn't want photography!" Pepper said back.

"Oh, you protecting your boyfriend?" The blond girl teased.

The photo group all laughed, but Pepper noticed the two in the back just looked annoyed.

"I-I'm not..." She felt her face heat up, and she cursed herself for doing so. "He's not my..."

The blond girl rolled her eyes and wrapped an arm around the shortest boy of the group. "Sure."

They continued to take pictures and Tony tried moving Pepper back away from them telling her just to ignore them. But she was not going to let them take pictures of them without getting away with it.

"Delete the pictures now." She demanded flatly.

"Or what?" the tall boy questioned.

"Dante, leave them alone." One of the two in the back said.

"Why?"

"Because I said so."

"Fine."

"Delete the pictures too." The other one said.

"What?" The blond said. "But these are gold if we can get these to a reporter."

"I don't think they want you to do that."

With a glare, the teens began to delete the pictures. Pepper could see that they were obviously afraid of the two in the back. Though, Pepper was sorta glad of that cause she didn't want Tony to be all over the news.

"Pepper, come on!" Tony's said pulling her away.

Almost reluctantly, Pepper followed.

**Ooh, so now some action, or plot bunnies, (I think thats the right word...) But yeah, glad i updated! I'm excited to get your reviews and thoughts! It'd be a great Christmas present! **

**Before you go, i want to explain a few things. The whole italicized section _was _important to read. I actually fear that the whole story's plot is going to crash with the addition of that particular section. AND I will explain as we go deeper into this story, cause i'm not about to let it go! AND another thing is the end. With the pictures and teens...I wasn't really sure what i was writing there, but i thought to just have a side thing going on and i'm unsure if that will go anywhere. It might, just a warning, but maybe it wont. Charactors will be even more OoC later on, i think, i hope its in a good way and not such a bad way, but then again you should understand cause the way events turned out, things are NOT the same anywhere.  
**

**So thats all i wanted to explain, but now in respect and dedication to those who were affected by the shooting in _Sandy Hook Elementary in Connecticut_, i want to say that i'm praying for them and wish that i could do more than that, but instead i'll just give a moment of silence to respect those who died in the incident...  
**

**With that i shall say goodbye, and i'll be waiting for some lovely reviews! AND MERRY CHRISTMAS if i don't return before it.  
**


	9. Chapter 8

**So, someone requested i update this one, so i worked my fingers of doing it. And i hope you guys are as excited as i am! Well, me for you guys to read and love it, and for you for you guys to read and love it. I think i did pretty good. Well, i honestly have nothing to say to day...lucky you.**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Iron man armored adventures.  
**

She didn't really pay attention to anything other than the hand of the boy she missed so much. She may even admit that she actually liked him. She blushed at the thought. Silly her, he would never like her. He would never be with someone like her. There was no way, he would like her back. Not the way she liked him.

_Then why would he kiss you? _A nagging voice said in her mind.

'_He didn't kiss me'. _She thought to herself. '_Not on the lips anyway...' _

_Does it matter? _

She shook her head. Now wasn't the time to argue with herself. Especially when two to three cars just screeched around the corner they were heading too. She followed as Tony cut through the nearest alleyway and she couldn't help but feel a little vulnerable. Even with him there. Cause he seemed pretty sturdy, even on that leg of his. That leg that seems either broken or sprained. And if she had to guess, since she hadn't seen his face or really much of him other than in the dark moon-light, that something must have happened to his throat, cause whenever he spoke, it was scratchy and it cracked a lot, though how could she know? He hardly said anything.

"Stop doing that." That same rasping voice almost demanded.

She stopped briefly wondering what on earth she could possibly be doing at the moment that bothered him. Though before she could piece it together, she was tugged back as the cars appeared in front of them.

"Stop what?" She managed finally.

"Looking at me like that, you're going to trip if you don't concentrate." He responded, though the last part she could hardly understand from all the screeching of tires and his own fits of coughs.

"How am I looking at you?" She asked.

"I don't know!?" Tony's voice cracked. "Like I'm a kicked puppy or something."

She blinked. Had she really looked at him like that? She wouldn't have ever thought that he would be so frustrated just because the look she gave him, and the look wasn't even voluntary. It just sorta happened. Though, she guessed it had to do with something else, and maybe it just brought back memories.

"Sorry." She mumbled as the cars were just behind them and another was coming up from the front of the alley.

"No, no, don't be." He said his voice still rough, but sounding a bit better. "I'm the one who should be-"

He never got to finish his sentence, because a sharp pain smashed into his right leg, tripping him from behind. His head smashing against the ground, rendering his sight fuzzy. He hardly registered that Pepper's hand was ripped out of his own. Though when he did he desperately tried to find it again. When he couldn't he panicked and tried to get his vision back.

"Pepper!?" He gasped out, barely audible.

Pepper couldn't understand what happened. One second they're running from the cars and the next Tony was on the ground bleeding out of his leg, and she was grabbed around the waist and pulled away from him. She struggled, but a hand was thrown over her mouth to hide her cries. So, she watched helpless as Tony strained to get up, he also seemed to keep reaching for something.

Then she heard his voice. Though it was so soft, so quite, she almost thought she didn't hear it, but she did. He sad her name. He was looking for her. But she was right here. Why couldn't he see her? She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion before she noticed him reach up and hold the back of his head. When his hand pulled back, it was covered slightly in blood.

"Grab him already!" A voice snapped behind her.

A few of the many men who surrounded them, jumped slightly, but just went and grabbed the dazed Tony off the ground. The man who had grabbed shoved her away before winking at her with a wink. Just as they were about to shove Tony into one of the cars trunks, Tony was able to shout at her one thing,

"Pep, do NOT tell Rhodey! I will be okay, I pro-" He was cut off with the slam of the trunk door. But she understood what he meant.

Suddenly she felt so helpless, so weak, so...alone. Her knees wobbled before they gave out and she was on her knees. She couldn't understand a thing that was going on. Who were those people!? Who did they think they were, just waltzing off with Tony. Were they the cause of the plane crash? Were they the cause to Tony's two year disappearance?

A sudden feeling of despair went through her body, and she could stop herself from uncontrollably sobbing into the hopeless night.

…

(6 weeks later)

Pepper as she solely promised—in her mind—kept her 'meeting' with Tony a secret. Her dad had came home that night to a very messy kitchen and living room. He asked Pepper what happened, and even questioned the sight of Tony in his house, but Pepper gave the best confused look she could muster, and told him he was crazy. Tony Stark was dead, even if he wasn't, he wouldn't be at their house. It was hard to lie to him like that, but her promise to Tony was more important.

The men in the house that were miraculously knocked out, were arrested under the charge of assaulting an agents home. They were simply arrested and set up for questioning. It was on the news that there was some kind of car chasing two people. Though, it was luckily not revealed who.

Though, Rhodey was oblivious to what had happened that night, he could still see that something had happened. She didn't really talk much, and that in and out of it's self, scared him. She was never like this. Even when she heard that he had gone missing. She was the one who kept his head straight, now something must have happened that was worse than finding out a friend or a crush was missing. There for causing her to stop her natural behavior. She only texted him when she needed to ask him of something, and he tried to get her to talk her normal ways, but nothing seemed to work. She just kept turning away. At least for the first four weeks, that was until she got better and started to talk to him. She texted him a billion times a day not including her calls.

Though, she did have a tendency, to bring up strong topics. Like Tony for instance. She kept bringing him up. It was just senseless rambling, but it still hurt to listen to someone talk about someone you haven't seen for two years and was suspected to be dead. But now all the raving stories were "Walking dead? Tony Stark back to life?" It was annoying. That's what Pepper kept saying.

She kept her promise not to tell anyone, but she liked to play around the ideas of telling Rhodey. So she told him her own fable stories of what could have happened. It kept her distracted from thinking of that night, that horrible night where she slept in far too late than she would have liked.

She told him her own theories. Her theory that he was kidnapped. Which, she guessed were true, but well, in Rhodey's mind, it wasn't true. Right? She told him her other theory at which he got brainwashed into staying away from them. Stuff like that. Though after awhile she started to think that her stories weren't the type Rhodey wanted to hear.

So with nothing else to distract her, she busied herself with many trips to Stark International. She got Trish to get her in with Howard for about five minutes, which was not nearly enough for her, but she still liked the time. She had asked him if it was alright she tell her theories to him, and he only hesitated a little before accepting to listen. She told him of her theories, and actually she kinda surprised him. He actually told her that it was very probable that he was kidnapped, but there was no leads. By then their time was run short, and Howard had to leave to a meeting, though he invited her to stay and said that she could look at some of the photos that he had on the computer of Tony.

It was a few days later that something more drastic and exciting happened. It was a Friday to be exact. Pepper sat alone in her living room since her dad was on a mission until midnight, and was flipping through the channels. Cartoons, no, cooking, no, weather, no, gory movie, no, kiddie shows, no. Nothing was on. At least that's what she thought until she hit the news channel.

On the screen was one of the many pictures those teens took of her and Tony. Not very clear, but still obvious who it was. And it was all over the news and all she could do was stare.

**Was it as good as you hoped? If so, I'd love to hear what you have to say about it! One thing i want to say about the time and all, is that i believe its the beginning if not almost spring. Cause it was the middle of winter somewhere around one of these chapters and the weeks later part...well, should drag on at least somewhere near spring, so yeah...thought i'd clear that out for us...If you read any of my other stories, which most of you have, you can see i'm the worst when it comes to timing, and days in my stories. I'm working on it...  
**

**Well, that's all, i hope you enjoyed!**

**P.S. Carpetbakr, SORRY for leaving you hanging AGAIN! It's just that my neck is killing me from staring up at the screen for so long and that my screen is up a lot higher than me...don't ask...long story...anyways, I don't mean it, its the story and my neck...  
**


	10. Chapter 9

**Miss this story? Well, finally, I UPDATED! :D I thought i should at least finish the little cliffhanger that i left hanging for what - 3 months now? 2? I felt, that since it wasn't something i was blocked on, i should at _least _give you guys another chapter, no matter how short or long it might be. So, I hope you guys enjoy! :)**

**Disclaimer: As much as I wish, i don't own IMAA. **

Howard Stark calmly sat in his office signing the last papers he had for the day. Since it was a Friday, he was especially busy since everyone was trying to get things done before the weekend and shorter hours came. Papers and meeting were around every corner, press conferences, and personal lab work was important and needed to be done at a deadline. All he had to do now was finish off a small stack of papers and he would be able to go home.

The TV was playing the news on the wall beside his desk, so it was both near him, and out of sight, so he didn't get distracted by it. He had token a few minutes to check the news for anything about Stark International or his rival companies, so he would be informed of anything important going on that he should know.

Pausing to take a call from someone, he set down the pen he was using. He sighed as he had to attend one more meeting before he could go home. Getting up, he put the paperwork into a 'to-do' folder and into a drawer. He walked to the door and just as he put his hand on the door, he heard something on the news, which startled him.

Turning to face the screen, that was now all the way across the news, but just loud enough to see, Howard listened.

"_That's right, Tony Stark has been seen around 6 weeks ago." _The news reporter said looking to the man next to herself, with a surprised look. "_I mean, that picture right there, just proves it! Right Chris?" _

The woman pointed to a picture above their heads. The man, Chris nods. "_I think so, Mary. Though, that's not what I'm curious about. I'm wondering who that girl is next to him. Do you know who she is, Mary?"_

"_No, not at all, I haven't been informed yet, but I hear that whoever that is, is his girlfriend." _'Mary' said wiggling her eyebrows.

Chris laughed. "_I wonder. I bet some of you are wondering where this was, huh? Well, I can tell you that it was taken just blocks away from Times Square. Where reports say that a car chase had led to. Makes you curious."_

"_I really hope the police can find him, it would be tragic if they hadn't." _Mary said shaking her head. "_Well, stay tuned to find out any updates of this mystery." _

Howard stood there, hands shaking, as he looked at the picture one last time before the screen went to a commercial. His heart just about stopped, when he realized not only had his son been spotted, _alive_, but Pepper was with him. Pepper was with him, and hadn't said a thing.

For 6 weeks.

Hardly able to breathe, Howard swallowed hard in attempt to stay calm. With shaky fingers, he opened the door and called out to Trish. She walked over to him, sympathy in her eyes as she had also seen the news cast.

"Trish…" He started, forcing his voice to be calm. "Please cancel my 5'oclock meeting."

She nodded as she shuffled to her desk to make the call. Howard walked with purpose to the elevator and down to the surface floor. He didn't even hesitate to speed his way to Pepper's house. He was going to get answers. Whether or not she liked it.

…

When the news cast ended, Pepper stared at the screen breathless. Her lips were quivering and her hands were balled up to the point her knuckles were white. Her mind must be betraying herself because tears quickly welled up in her eyes. Was this real?

Didn't those kids delete those photos?

More importantly what was she going to tell the others? It was very clear that it was her in that picture with him. It was more than clear now, that she was hiding something that was _very _important. She froze at the idea of Howard finding this out. If she knew him as good as she thought, which wasn't much since he was always changing, he would have already known. If only she could hide it from him. Then she wouldn't have to say anything.

She didn't want to say anything. She couldn't. She promised to Tony that she wouldn't. Well…she promised she wouldn't tell Rhodey…but not telling Rhodey and not telling Howard meant the same thing, right?

She sat there staring at the screen that moved on to some drama show she didn't know about for almost a half hour. When she heard a knock at the door, she panicked, knowing who it was.

Her dad was on a mission and wasn't supposed to be back for at least two days now, and Rhodey who had gone to meet his dad who was returning home that day and they had to go to a hotel for the night since it was a bit far. And what are the odds that it's Tony knocking at the door? She knew it was Howard.

She muted the TV in attempt to trick him that she wasn't home, but when only a few minutes later, the knocking returned. She knew he knew she was home. After all, he is emergency contact for if anything happened while her dad was out. Along with her mom and Roberta. Howard was always called beforehand that Pepper was going to be home alone. And most of the time she wouldn't be out and of the house unless Rhodey was home.

With a little bit of hope left that he would think it was one of those days she needed to be alone or at the story, she stayed as silent as she could. But when she heard the jingle of keys in the door, she wanted to bury herself as she remembered that Howard had a key.

So, to cover her ignorance she pulled a blanket down from the back of the couch and wrapped herself in it and laid down. Before she closed her eyes she messed up her hair and rubbed her eyes a bit to make herself look tired. Then he closed her eyes just as the front door opened.

When Howard walked in, she waited before he came and sat down on the chair next to her, before pretending to wake up. "Howard?" She asked in her best tired voice.

"Pepper," Howard said with a small smile, that she could tell was strained. "I know you weren't asleep."

She sat up and looked down at her twiddling fingers. She could feel her heart beating and she could almost hear the speed of her heart. Her stomach was a mess of butterflies, and she really felt as if she was being watched by millions of eyes.

"Pepper, I saw the news." Howard started, eying the TV. "I can tell you have too. I came for answers."

When she didn't answer he continued. "I know there has to be a reason why you didn't tell me, what happened that is. But I can't help but want to know what happened. Pepper, he's my son. He's all I have left. I need to know what happened."

"I-I can't." Pepper said curling her knees up to her chest. Her throat tightened at the painful secret she was keeping. "I can't…"

"Why not?" Howard pressed.

Pepper paused for a minute, her voice caught in her throat. "I…I promised… I wouldn't…"

"Pepper, I know how hard it must be. Trust me, I had to deal with hiding the fact that Maria was dead, on not sleeping, for a long time." Howard said taking a seat next to her. "You must understand how painful it is to find out, over the news, that my son is still alive. My son, who has been missing for two years."

There was silence after Howard finished. Pepper buried her face into her knees, trying not to break under Howard's stare. She could feel his eyes, as if they were seeing right through her. She bit her lip in further attempt not to start bawling her eyes out.

"Please, Pepper, I need to know. I can't bear to sit around knowing that my son is alive somewhere. I –" Howard's voice broke off, causing Pepper to look up.

She gasped, lightly, as she saw that he was close to tears himself. The Howard Stark was almost crying. His eyes were red and he had a hand stressfully scratching his jaw.

Seeing him on the verge of tears, did it. With a sudden over flow of feeling, she burst out in a loud sob, her hand covering her mouth. "I'm sorry!"

Howard looked at her surprised.

"I-I'm sorry, Howard! I should have told you, but…I promised him…" She sobbed. "He looked…he…I…he just looked so…so…"

Howard patted her back in attempt to calm him down. "Pepper, take a breath."

But she didn't hear him. "He looked so…weak! So…sad. I couldn't say…anything…I-I couldn't bring myself to…to…even think about it." Her voice rose as she continued. "We running…from cars…people…with…with guns…and…"

"Pepper." Howard tried again. "Calm down."

"He was hurt!" She wailed. "He was…was so…weak and he was…just…just trying to…p-protect me! They…they took him!"

"Who took him?" Howard asked. "Pepper, calm down so you can tell me."

Pepper began to make ugly sobbing sounds as she covered her face, unable to continue. She shook her head as Howard tried to get her to calm down. She felt horrible for breaking her promise. She couldn't believe that she'd done something so horrible. So, betraying.

Finally, after about ten minutes, maybe a bit less, Pepper calmed down enough to breathe a little more normally.

Howard, doing what he normally did for his son when he was upset, rubbed comfortable circles on Pepper's back while she calmed down enough to speak.

"Pepper, can you talk about it?" He asked.

She sniffled, nodding. "Sure…"

He waited as she wrapped the blanket around herself as she turned to face him. With a deep breath, she shared her story.

**If you haven't noticed, character's are VERY OoC! It's kinda weird sometimes to write them with so much emotion, since I'm really no good with writing them, but you guys seem to think differently. :) **

**Fun Fact: _I'm a total geek when it comes to playing card games like Magic or RPG games like Dungeons and Dragons, but i can't help it. THEIR SO MUCH FUN! :)_**

**Just as a reminder for you guys to go VOTE on my poll! I want to know what you guys think! Go CHECK IT OUT! Please?**

**Another thing, i want to warn you guys in advance, that my computer's hard drive is seriously low on extra space. AND I'm upset that i might have to uninstall windows then reinstall it and i have to transport my stories to a flash drive to keep them from being deleted and the fact that i might lose Microsoft, isn't exactly exciting either... Then there's my stupid flash drive that is almost falling apart, (honestly, the cover falls off all the time...) and i worry that something might happen to lose those stories...so sometime in the future (near or not) I might be offline for a while due to loss of current works and Microsoft, and if severe, use of computer (which i doubt will happen) I'm sure everything will be fine, if anything i could go back to Libra office. And I'll just have to start over on the stories i was writing... I just wanted to make sure you guys knew in advance, that i might not be able to update much sometime soon or not. **

**Well, I hope i can get to work on more Baby Phase or Victims vs Suspects...or...Baby Genius! O,o...maybe.**


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